Chapter 36 35. Popular movements are changing

No matter how "smartly" the national government wanted to launch its strategy against Japan, the people didn't care so much. They consistently and even more strongly demanded that the government take direct action against Japan. On the 26th, Shanghai students sent representatives of more than 50 people, including Liu Xuantian, to Nanjing to petition the government and put forward the following five demands: 1. Concentrate forces and expel the Japanese troops out of the country; 2. Ineffectively punishing diplomatic officials; 3. Order Zhang Xueliang to send troops quickly to make meritorious deeds;

4. Distribute firearms to students in universities and arm students across the country; 5. Implement revolutionary diplomacy and not sign treaties that forfeit power and humiliate the country. The above request made by the Shanghai student representatives hints that the popular movement is quietly undergoing changes.When the September 18th Incident broke out and the mass movement started, the main spearhead was aimed at Japan. At that time, there was no tension of confrontation between the people and the Nationalist government; but at this time, the people began to lose patience with the Nationalist government’s inaction , they began to doubt the government's determination and ability to act against Japan, and the spearhead of the popular movement began to point at the national government.Among the five demands made by the Shanghai student representatives, every one implied their dissatisfaction with the Nationalist government's policy towards Japan.

In fact, the five demands made by Shanghai student representatives on the 26th are not the first time that young students have expressed dissatisfaction with the government. On the 25th, the students and teachers of Beijing Normal University in Peking expressed their dissatisfaction with the Nationalist government's policy of non-resistance in positive telegrams like this: The country raises soldiers, willing to resist foreign humiliation. Our country has the largest number of troops in the world. However, when encountering foreign enemies, it is a shame to adopt a policy of non-resistance.This time when Japan invaded East Province, it was like entering an uninhabited land. Liaoji fell, and Pingjin was threatened. In this situation, can we still maintain the principle of non-resistance?

In short, the people, represented by young students, neither understand nor support the government's policy of non-resistance. They realize that their righteous indignation against the Japanese invaders is completely useless under the government's policy of non-resistance , so they began to turn to criticism of the government's policy of non-resistance. Moreover, it is difficult for popular movements to "talk without action", and confrontational actions with the government will inevitably appear. But it is clear that the national government is incapable of preventing the risk of the popular movement turning.Chiang Kai-shek himself has a strong, almost paranoid sense of mission and superiority towards his leadership position. He always arbitrarily believes that the people should do what the leader says. belief, what doubts do the people have?

When the five demands of the Shanghai student representatives arrived in front of Chiang Kai-shek, he did not hesitate, and responded one by one: With regard to the first requirement of "concentrating troops and expulsing the Japanese soldiers out of the country", Chiang replied that in the end, when there was no peace, the government would eventually have to send troops to fight to the death.The implication is that now is not the time when peace is completely hopeless, so it is not an opportunity for the government to decide to use troops against Japan. With regard to the second requirement of "punishing ineffective diplomats", Jiang replied that the government should bear full responsibility for diplomatic negligence, and it was not the fault of only one person.This attitude seems very realistic, but it highlights the government's diplomatic responsibility. If the students' request for "punishment" is followed, should the government resign altogether?Obviously, the words "take the blame and resign" do not exist in Jiang's dictionary, so how to implement the promise that "the government should bear full responsibility for diplomatic mistakes"?

With regard to the third requirement, "Let Zhang Xueliang send troops quickly, and make meritorious deeds for crimes", Jiang replied that the student representatives should not worry too much about this point. Of course, the central government must retake the land.A sentence of "don't worry too much" completely rejected the request of young students.You must know that for the Chinese, if something goes wrong, the responsible person must be found out. The first responsible person in the eyes of the students——Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting was relieved by Jiang with the statement that "the government is fully responsible." The responsibility of the responsible person - Zhang Xueliang, was lightly removed by Jiang with "future problems".Like a martial arts master who has practiced the "Star Attraction Dafa", Chiang Kai-shek took all the tricks of the people without fear, thinking that he could resolve them all - he really looked up to himself and underestimated the people .

With regard to the fourth requirement of "distributing guns to students in all universities and arming students across the country", Jiang replied that there was a shortage of ordnance in the country, and if there were more guns for students, the soldiers would have one less gun.This request is very emotional, and Jiang's answer is also very interesting - completely reviewing this emotional request in a positive way, and the answer is even more honest, without some tricky brain teaser skills, it is impossible to do it of. With regard to the requirement of Article 5, "Practice revolutionary diplomacy and not sign treaties that forfeit power and humiliate the country", Chiang replied that this is more of the central government's natural responsibility.

The student representatives in Shanghai were obviously not satisfied with Chiang Kai-shek's answer.They delayed for about two hours before leaving Ningxia and returning to Shanghai. While college students from Shanghai went to Nanjing to petition one after another, Peking, where there are many universities, will not be peaceful. On the 27th, the Peking Students' Anti-Japanese National Salvation Association first issued the "Report to the People of the Nation for the Incident in the Three Eastern Provinces", denouncing the National Government's non-resistance doctrine, and believed that the government's policy of "requesting the League of Nations for a public judgment" repeatedly emphasized by the government was "weak and incompetent. Sit and wait to die", advocated "expel the Japanese army out of the country with the power of the masses, cancel all pending cases between China and Japan, and declare war on Japan".From this declaration, there is an emotion of fighting Japan to resolve all the disputes between China and Japan. It can also be said that this is another version of the "total solution" solution, and this solution is exactly what the Chinese government wants to avoid as much as possible.

Students were not the only ones in the popular movement advocating resistance to Japan and criticizing the government's non-resistance doctrine. On the 26th, more than 200,000 people from more than 800 groups in Shanghai held an Anti-Japanese National Salvation Congress, with Wang Xiaolai as the chairman.The Shanghai civic movement was not as intense as the student movement, but it may have had greater influence on the national government. Wang Xiaolai, chairman of the Shanghai Citizens' Anti-Japanese National Salvation Congress, was a well-known figure in both black and white at the time.He was a member of the Restoration Society in the early days and participated in the anti-Qing struggle. After the Qiu Jin case, he fled to Shanghai with his family and founded the Zhabei Business Group with others. This is an organization with both economic and gang nature. When the Revolution of 1911 restored Shanghai, he led the armed forces of the business group to participate in the battle to capture the North Railway Station. In 1913, he also contributed to the Second Revolution. After becoming the chairman of the Shanghai Chamber of Commerce in August 1930, he recruited many disciples and became one of the famous "sea celebrities". At that time, Du Yuesheng and others on the beach in Shanghai also called him "big brother".Having such a person as the leader of the Shanghai citizen movement shows the breadth and influence of its social foundation.

The Shanghai Anti-Japanese National Salvation Conference finally made a resolution: Call the central government to order the Japanese army to withdraw from the occupied areas, or declare war on Japan; send a call to support Chiang Kai-shek’s unified military power to resist Japan; send a call to urge the Guangzhou Nationalist Government to eliminate prejudices and unanimously externalize; send a call to permanently sever economic relations with Japan; severely punish profiteers; severely punish the foreign policy mistakes of the government Foreign Minister Wang Zhengting, who was directly responsible, severely punished Zang Shiyi, the chairman of Liaoning Province, who did not resist, and ordered Zhang Xueliang to send troops to fight against Japan.

It should be said that compared with the demands of the students, the demands of the Shanghai Anti-Japanese National Salvation Congress were more rational and practical.However, these requests have not received a formal reply from the Government.It seems to reveal the logic of the Nationalist government—children who are troublesome have milk, and the students are blocked at the gate of the Nationalist government, so they have to answer; On the same day, Nanchang.Ningbo also held a 100,000-person Anti-Japanese National Salvation Rally. In short, around the 26th, the popular movement quietly changed—from the earlier focus on protesting against Japan to the focus on criticizing and opposing the government's non-resistance.In the face of this change, the national government headed by Chiang Kai-shek did not seem to be alert, nor did it seem to take it seriously.China has always had the old saying that "it is better to guard against the mouths of the people than to guard against Sichuan." Popular movements are also Sichuan, and Sichuan should guide them instead of going against the trend and taking it for granted.Unfortunately, Chiang Kai-shek made such a mistake.Two days later, he had to stand up and directly face the impact of the popular movement, thus pushing himself to a considerable extent to the opposite of the popular demands.