Chapter 42 41. Song Jiaoren Destroyed the Party and Founded the Party

There were many political parties in the first year of the Republic of China. As early as before and after the peace talks between the North and the South, many members of the Tongmenghui were actually Manchurianists and nationalists in a narrow sense. They believed that the purpose of revolution had disappeared, so they split from the Tongmenghui and formed some For small political parties fighting for political status, they just put up a signboard, issued a manifesto, and pulled a few famous political figures as their leaders, so as to facilitate personal political speculation.There are also some political parties that are combined by regional or historical relations.None of these political parties have a clear-cut party program, nor do they have certain political ideas, and it is commonplace for them to break away from one party or another.The leader they support may also be the leader of another party, and the person who is pushed is the same as the chairman of the company's company today. He is a nominal errand and does not care about any party.

During the period of the Nanjing Provisional Government, the opposing political parties within the Provisional Senate were mainly the Tongmenghui and the United Party centered on Zhang Binglin and Zhang Jian from Jiangsu and Zhejiang.After the provisional government moved to the north, the United Party and the civil society centered on Hubei natives Sun Wu, Lan Tianwei, and Liu Chengyu, as well as the National Communist Association composed of constitutional monarchists Ji Zhongyin and Zhou Dalie, joined forces and formed a joint organization on May 9, the first year of the Republic of China. A Republican Party was established on the 1st, and Dai Li Yuanhong was promoted as the nominal leader, becoming the main competitor of the Tongmenghui.In addition to these two political parties, the Senate also has the United Republican Party of Gu Zhongxiu, Zhang Yaozeng, Wu Jinglian, etc., standing in the third party position and playing a decisive role.The United Republican Party had close ties with Song Jiaoren.

Due to the needs of the facts, the Tongmenghui must merge many small parties to complete the goal of "destroying the party and building the party".Therefore, Song Jiaoren used agile political means to not only get close contact with the United Republican Party, but also get in touch with the three small parties of the National Communist Party, the Nationalist Party, and the Republican Progressive Association.These three small political parties were originally some mixed organizations differentiated from the League and the Constitutional Monarchy. They agreed to form a large political party to compete with the Republican Party.

Song Jiaoren is a talented political party activist. After he obtained the agreement of the four political parties other than the Tongmenghui to merge, he held a meeting with representatives of all parties in the Anqing Guild Hall in Beijing on August 11 to obtain an agreement.On August 13th, a general staff meeting of the Tongmenghui was convened, and 16 people, including Song Jiaoren and Zhang Ji, were elected as preparators, and the Ministry of General Affairs issued a circular announcing that the Tongmenghui was reorganized into a general form of political party.Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing jointly called the branches in Shanghai to seek approval for this change.The telegram is as follows:

"Learning from each branch: According to the call from the Beijing Headquarters, it said, 'It has been negotiated and merged with the United Republican Party, the National Communist Party, and the Nationalist Party for several days, and they will be organized separately. The conditions are as follows: (1) name: Kuomintang; Republic, implement civilian politics; (3) five-point party program: maintain political unity, develop local autonomy, encourage racial assimilation, adopt people's livelihood policies, and maintain international peace; (4) use the council system, and select one of them as the chairman. The Union of Staff Reviewers, the merger conditions have been approved. The conditions listed above are not incompatible with the purpose of this association. It is not the only luck of the majority of political parties to work together to implement what our party has always embraced. It is also a blessing for the future of the Republic of China. Wen and others deeply agree. And when the Tongmenghui was established, its name originally contained the meaning of the Revolutionary Tongmenghui. When the Republic was first established, it was changed to a political party. Those who proposed to change the name benefited the public, and it was changed at this time. It can be said to achieve two goals with one stroke. I hereby call your branch to ask for approval so that it can be officially published. The article and others have repeatedly received invitations from President Yuan Da's envoys and letters, and have set off on the 17th to go north. The reply will be handed over to the headquarters of the Beijing League Hope. Sun Wen, Huang Xing."

On the second day of Sun Yat-sen's arrival in Beijing, the Tongmenghui announced that it would merge with the United Republican Party, the National Communist Party, the Nationalist Party, and the Republican Progressive Association to form the Kuomintang. This happened on August 25, the first year of the Republic of China.The founding meeting of the Kuomintang was held in the Huguang Guild Hall in Beijing. Sun Yat-sen attended in person and delivered a speech on organizing a new party.According to the provisions of Chapter IV of the statute, select staff, including nine directors: Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren, Wang Chonghui, Wang Renwen, Wang Zhixiang, Wu Jinglian, Zhang Fenghui, and Gongsang Norbu.29 people participated in the council: Hu Hanmin, Bai Wenwei, Chen Jintao, Li Liejun, Zhang Ji, Jiang Yiwu, Sun Yuyun, Tan Yankai, Yin Changheng, Yu Youren, Ma Junwu, Tian Tong, etc.There are seven honorary counselors including Niu Yongjian, and more than 300 officers in various ministries. On September 3, Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren, Wu Jinglian, Wang Chonghui, Wang Zhixiang, Wang Renwen, and Gongsang Nuoerbu seven directors mutually recommended Sun Yat-sen as the chairman of the board, and Sun Bing appointed Song Jiaoren as the acting chairman.

Song Jiaoren is an expert in political party organization. He is young and can speak and write. He is not only a talented speaker, but also a famous political commentator. He often uses the pseudonym "Taoyuan Fisherman" to express his political opinions in newspapers.He participated in the Changsha Uprising in his early years, and he was the most prominent figure in the Huaxing Society along with Chen Tianhua who died by crossing the sea.When the Nanjing Provisional Government was established, he was a senator sent by Hunan. When revising the "Interim Government Organization Outline", he strongly advocated the adoption of the French-style responsible cabinet system and opposed the American-style presidential system.Even Sun Yat-sen disagreed with this proposition.Because of his youthful vigor, others said that he wanted to be the prime minister of the cabinet, so when the Nanjing Provisional Senate passed the "Interim Government Organization Outline", not only was it not a responsible cabinet system but a presidential system, and there was no cabinet prime minister at all. Accountable to the President.Even when President Sun proposed Song to be the Minister of the Interior, the Senate refused to approve it and proposed Cheng Dequan instead.

When Sun Yat-sen handed over the post of interim president to Yuan Shikai, everyone felt that the president had too much power, fearing that Yuan would abuse his power and implement dictatorship, so they revised the "Interim Government Organization Outline" to "Interim Constitution".Change the presidential system to a cabinet system. Although the revolutionaries have little regard for fame and status, they all have a strong sense of responsibility, so it is possible for Song Jiaoren to want to be the prime minister.At the end of the Nanjing Provisional Government, Song's political views were far from Sun Yat-sen's.Sun Yat-sen advocated that after the regime was handed over to Yuan, the Tongmenghui would retreat and become an opposition party to spur the government; Song advocated "destroying the party and building a party", abandoning the name of the Tongmenghui, absorbing other small parties, forming a large party, and becoming the first in the Congress. The status of a major party, the majority of the Congress and then organize the responsible cabinet.According to Song's proposition, it is to give up the struggle against Yuan on the issue of the president and military strength, and to gain a superior position in the Congress and the cabinet, so that Yuan's president has no power.This proposition soon won the enthusiastic support of the members of the Tongmenghui, and the Kuomintang was formed.During this period, the Kuomintang was composed of extremely complex members, mixed dragons and snakes, and many speculators. Therefore, Song Jiaoren's purpose of "destroying the party and building the party" only achieved the expansion of the organization of the Tongmenghui, and did not turn the Kuomintang into a strong and organized organization. political parties.

After the establishment of the Kuomintang, Song Jiaoren devoted himself to controlling the majority in the National Assembly, and at the same time preparing to win the official election of members of Congress in order to prepare for the formation of a one-party cabinet in the future.Huang Xing worked hard to win all kinds of people to join the party. He believed that no matter what kind of person you are, as long as you join the Kuomintang, you can become a talent.Huang Xing didn't want to come to Beijing at first, but after entering Beijing, he was more deceived by Yuan than Sun Yat-sen.He not only persuaded people to join the party everywhere, but also invited Yuan Shikai to join the party face to face, and promised to push Yuan to be the leader of the party.He believes that no matter whether Zhang is born or Wei is born, whether it is an enemy or a friend, as long as they are willing to join the Kuomintang today, everyone is a comrade.Therefore, in addition to recruiting Yuan to join the party, he also recruited Yang Du and Zhao Bingjun to join the party with 120% sincerity.

Yuan did not refuse Huang's invitation face to face, nor would he give a positive answer, but he secretly told Yang Du about it.Yuan said: "Xizi, do you think I look like a revolutionary party?" He smiled treacherously and said: "If they don't insist on a responsible cabinet, we will be a revolutionary party for fun." The introducer of Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing's friendship, when he was in Tokyo ten years ago, declined Sun Yat-sen's invitation to join the Tongmenghui, so he had no confidence in the revolution and the Kuomintang.At this time, he had already chosen Yuan Shikai with all his heart, so he would never accept Huang Xing's proposal.He wrote a letter to Huang Xing according to Yuan Shikai's intention, which said:

"The past is unbroken, and the invitation to join the Kuomintang is only ignorant, and I dare not promise. Recently, the cadres of your party in Beijing have continued to invite, discuss and discuss party strategies, thinking that your party's previous experience and future actions are all important. Those who are not immune to difficulties are actually bound by the four characters of the political party and the cabinet. Although it is based on academic theory, your party did not fully trust Xiangcheng in the past, and it has an anti-idle policy. If you don't believe in Yuan, you should go to Yuan and choose the president instead. You must persuade Yuan to hide, and Yuan must be happy to follow. If you can believe in Yuan, then you should help Yuan, cancel the discussion of the party and cabinet, and declare the whole country, In order to seek actual communication, degrees can be effective. If you continue to hold each other and have mutual doubts, it will be detrimental to the country's overall plan, and it is not the best policy. Dugu used people outside the party as suggestions, and divided himself among members of your party. The relationship is very shallow, and I dare not commit myself lightly. According to this telegram, Mr. Beggar sent a telegram to the branch of your party headquarters across the country to solicit opinions. And use this to predict the credibility of the whole body. It is a good thing for Fu Wei to judge and judge when advancing and retreating." Yang's expression made Huang Xing and others very angry, and there were conditions attached to joining the party. So the Kuomintang had to close the door to Yang Du. Zhao Bingjun joined the Kuomintang, and it is said that he joined at Yuan's order to act as an insider.Zhao said to others: "I didn't know what a 'party' is. But many people persuaded me to join the party. The United Party also sent party cards, the Republican Party also sent party cards, and the Kuomintang also sent party cards. Have a look, and some of them are ignored. How did I know what party it is?" Someone told Zhao that he had seen his application form for joining the Kuomintang, so he talked about him. It is said that what Yuan Shikai didn't know how to do in his life was finance, but in fact what he didn't understand the most in his life was political parties.He used the "party" as a tool for playing tricks.In Lu Zhengxiang's era, he flaunted detachment, and Yuan even advocated that all staff of the presidential palace should not be allowed to join any party.After Sun and Huang entered Beijing, Yuan advocated that everyone join the party.The political party in his heart is just for fun! The newly established Kuomintang, as mentioned above, does not seem to be strong enough in terms of its members.Sun Yat-sen is a natural leader. From Sun Yat-sen, everyone has the so-called Huang line and Song line.In fact, Huang Xing and Song Jiaoren themselves have no intention of establishing factions, but their political views or party views are different, so they are divided.For example, Song has always advocated a responsible cabinet, but Huang did not advocate it when he was in the Nanjing Provisional Government.When the Tongmenghui reorganized the Kuomintang, it was Song alone who ran in Beijing. Hu Ying, Zhang Yaozeng, Li Zhaofu, Wei Chen group and others participated in the conspiracy.When Huang Xing was left behind in Nanjing, he advocated donations from the people and the exchange of banknotes, but Song opposed it; Huang advocated the establishment of Nanjing as the capital, and Song advocated the establishment of Beijing as the capital.Because of these differences of opinion, they were divided into two factions.In fact, these revolutionary great men only knew about owning the country, and did not seek for themselves, let alone form their own factions!In Beijing, apart from pulling Yuan Shikai and Yang Du to join the Kuomintang, Huang Xing showed great enthusiasm, but in terms of strict party theory and organization, he was far from Song Jiaoren. When the Zhang Zhenwu incident happened, Prime Minister Lu Zhengxiang claimed that he was admitted to the hospital, but he refused to leave the hospital no matter what, and resolutely resigned at the same time.Since he was only a short-lived cabinet, and in the eyes of ordinary people at the time, he was a half-foreigner who had neither likes nor dislikes, nor grievances towards him, so his resignation was accepted by Yuan.However, there is one reservation, that is, Lu is allowed to resign as the Prime Minister of the Cabinet, but not the Minister of Foreign Affairs.Lu Yuanyi didn't want to double crown, but felt that the Prime Minister had done too much headache, so he readily agreed.As a result, the second cabinet of the Republic of China ended when Sun and Huang entered Beijing. Sun and Huang's entry to Beijing was the only friendly honeymoon period between Yuan Shikai and the Kuomintang.Since Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing were so frank with Yuan, and Yuan was so kind with hypocrisy, and there was a vacancy in the cabinet, Yuan should naturally choose a Kuomintang member as prime minister to show Yuan and the Kuomintang. Sincere cooperation.Yuan was quite troubled about the candidate for the prime minister. According to theory, the only ideal candidate among the Kuomintang members was Song Jiaoren, but Yuan was most afraid of this "Taoyuan fisherman" because all his strengths were needed by the party politics at the time, and he was also the leader of the Yuan Dynasty. beyond reach.Therefore, when Yuan was researching the candidates for prime minister, he deliberately exchanged opinions with Huang Xing. Yuan wanted to use this method to drive a wedge between Huang and Song.Yuan suggested to Huang that a Kuomintang member should be the prime minister, but this person was actually not too closely related to the Kuomintang.He is Shen Bingkun.Shen is also from Hunan, and he is very close to Huang Xing. He was the governor of Guangxi in the late Qing Dynasty. During the Revolution of 1911, he was promoted to be the governor of Guangxi.After the end of the Nanjing Interim Government, he served as Huang Xing's senior adviser to the left-behind mansion and the supervisor of national donations.The Kuomintang was established and he was elected as a senator. He often called Huang Xing, who was only 38 years old, "Ke Lao".Yuan mentioning Shen Bingkun to form a cabinet was completely perfunctory for Huang Xing.Shen Bingkun's history in the Kuomintang is not high, and his prestige is not high. At the same time, Lu Zhengxiang resigned, leaving only an empty prime minister, and the heads of other ministries remained intact.The KMT’s internal opinion is that it does not wish to back up the KMT’s political party cabinet, so the KMT has decided: “Before the official Congress is convened, the KMT does not plan to form a political party cabinet. It is appropriate to maintain a transitional cabinet.” In the Beijing Provisional Senate in the first year of the Republic of China, there were 120 seats in total, except for the Tibet seat, which was not selected. The Tongmenghui and the Republican Party each had 40 seats, and the United Republican Party held 25 seats.Other small parties divided up 15 seats. After Song Jiaoren devoted himself to merging the Tongmenghui, the United Republican Party, the National Communist Party, the Republican Progressive Association, and the Nationalist Party into the Kuomintang, the Kuomintang has become a large party worthy of its name. Its headquarters is located in Beijing, and its branches are located everywhere The provinces and overseas cities accounted for 65 seats in the Provisional Senate, becoming the largest party. The other major party in the Senate is the Republican Party, with 40 votes.The Republican Party is centered on the United Party and the Civil Society, and is formed by merging the three political groups organized by Pan Hongding, the Kuomintang, the National Association for the Advancement of China, and the Republic of China Association.Its political platform has three aspects: (1) maintain national unity and adopt nationalism; (3) use state power to support the progress of the people; (3) respond to the general trend of the world and establish the country with peace and benefits.On May 5, the first year of the Republic of China, the Republican Party was established, and Li Yuanhong was elected as the chairman, and the directors were Zhang Jian, Na Yantu, Zhang Binglin, Cheng Dequan, Wu Tingfang, etc.The officers Tang Hualong, Liu Chengyu, Wang Yitang, etc.According to these names, the constituent elements are based on a part of the constitutional monarchy.In terms of standpoint, it was Yuan Shikai's alliance party, which was formed in response to Yuan's needs to confront the Tongmenghui.At that time, the League was known as the Civil Rights Party, and the Republican Party was known as the National Rights Party.Soon, the leader of the Gathering Party, Zhang Binglin, resigned from the board of the Republican Party, and the relapse manifesto still maintained the Gaeling Party. Because the Kuomintang suddenly seized 60 seats and the Republican Party still only had 40 seats, the constitutional monarchists actively cheered up. Tang Hualong, Lin Changmin, etc. secretly operated, and planned to merge to form a large party, named the Democratic Party.At this time, Liang Qichao just returned from overseas and made a compromise with Yuan Shikai. Tang Hualong, Lin Changmin and a part of the United Republican Party led by Sun Hongyi merged with the northern political parties Republican Progressive Party, Republican Promotion Party, and National New Deal Society. In September, the inaugural meeting was held in Beijing, and Liang Qichao was elected as the leader of the Democratic Party. Liang Qiqi delivered a moving speech at the inaugural meeting of the Democratic Party. He said: "Today China has been determined to be the most sacred and noble republican organization, and the use of the politics of the Republic depends entirely on the political party. Over the past few years, I have devoted myself to the construction of political parties. At first, there were many parties with various factions. Today, they have gradually merged into large political parties, such as the Republican Party and the Kuomintang. Although the Democratic Party was established later, its elements are sound. Don’t let other parties.” Then he explained the spirit and conditions that should be possessed in organizing a political party, he emphasized that a political party must have a public purpose; a political party must have the determination to struggle; a political party must have a purge order; the spirit of sacrifice; a political party must have the spirit of sacrifice. The Democratic Party hopes to appear as the third largest political party to influence the situation of the Kuomintang and the Republican Party in the Senate. It itself is completely dominated by constitutional monarchists.During the preparatory period, Hu Ruilin and Lu Naixiang raised the membership fee, Sun Hongyi, Yu Shaosong and others sorted out the affairs of the meeting, and Li Wenxi, Liu Chongyou, Xiao Xiang, Liang Shanji and others enthusiastically promoted the formation of the meeting.