Chapter 80 Gang Equality: Democracy in Post-Revolutionary Soldiers

Sun Yat-sen had the Three Principles of the People. During the Revolution of 1911, many revolutionaries were said to be ignorant of the two principles of the people, people's livelihood and civil rights.Everyone only cared about one nationalism, which was full at the time.The usual revolutionary propaganda also mostly refers to the brutality of the Qing Dynasty when it entered the customs, such as Yangzhou Ten Days, Jiading Three Massacres, and almost no one really promotes democracy.In this regard, the advanced nature of the revolutionaries is not even comparable to that of the constitutionalists. People who advocate constitutionalism are always talking about the benefits of constitutionalism, preaching constitutionalism, promoting local autonomy, and implementing elections.However, the revolution really came, and the revolutionary party was actually quite polite to the Manchus. As long as they did not resist, they would be let go. There was basically no genocide.Perhaps, Xinhai is not far from Gengzi, and the revolutionaries have been thinking about giving foreigners a good impression of civilization and reversing the regret of Gengzi Year.Therefore, the knife is not very easy to lift.However, after the revolution, the militias all over the country agreed to learn from the West and establish a democratic government. No one dared to take the concepts of democracy and equality from the West lightly.The leader of the Hanyang military government, Li Yadong, an old revolutionary, had just come out of prison. He was imitated by the officials of the Qing Dynasty and sat on the eight-carrying sedan chair. He was immediately despised by the revolutionary soldiers in Wuchang. They will all be smashed.That's why people say that during the revolution, the Three People's Principles consisted of only one people, but after the revolution, they became two peoples instead.

The revolutionary soldiers' insistence on democracy and equality is of great benefit to curb the officials of the Revolutionary Party from putting on airs and acting as lords.But on the other hand, in terms of command transfer, there are troubles.The revolutionary army in Wuhan is better, because the soldiers of the new army who participated in the revolution have all become officers due to the rapid expansion of the army.The newly recruited soldiers do not know anything about concepts such as democracy and equality. Therefore, when a war starts, dispatching troops is not too much of a problem. The biggest problem is that the soldiers have no tactical literacy and can only pull the trigger. , will not fight.However, when revolutionary soldiers elsewhere consciously practiced democracy and equality, trouble came.In the Hunan Revolutionary Army, a considerable number of veterans participated in the Northern Expedition to aid Hubei.After the armistice, when I returned to Changsha, the army did not have time to expand, and the soldiers were still soldiers, but they had made great contributions and were old in qualifications.As a result, no officers could be placed in their eyes. The soldiers of a company held a meeting and decided to do whatever they wanted.Back then, Mao Zedong served as a soldier in the New Army for half a year, and he went to the library to read every day, but no one cared about him.Man said that the platoon leader can't control it, even if the division commander and brigade commander come, he will give it to him for nothing.The soldiers believed that the revolution was about democracy and that everyone was equal, and that they could no longer be governed by the officials and lords of the Qing Dynasty.

The same is true for Shaanxi.Nine out of ten soldiers of the new army who participated in the revolution had no discipline and did not listen to orders.The military government of Shaanxi sent troops to plunder the land everywhere, and sent them to the head of any army. When the day came, the army leader waited for the soldiers at the assembly area. After waiting for a whole day, no one was there.Which battalion is sent, which battalion does not move.The troops sent to occupy Weinan, but because the soldiers did not come, the military leader took only a dozen student soldiers to go. After arriving at the place, there were too many guns due to the small number of people. .Up to this time, the two battalions assigned to the commanders had not yet reached the assembly point.Things like this happened many times during the Shaanxi Revolution.Soldiers don't listen to the officers and act on their own, doing whatever they want.The elder brother association in the military is extremely inflated, and the party's original concept of equality is mixed with the revolutionary party's democratic ideas. There are only a few leading uncles, and listen to it. Others, no matter how high their ranks are, are all useless.

This situation is said to have happened in Russia after the October Revolution.Lenin's wife, Krupskaya, recalled that after the revolution, factory workers often stopped working.When I asked, they had a meeting and decided to take a break. They said that they are all revolutionized, and the workers have the final say, so they can't treat themselves harshly.Later, in Wuhan during the Great Revolution, similar things happened. The workers in the factory often held meetings and decided to pay themselves high wages, but they did not work and gave themselves vacations.The boss was forced to flee, and the factory closed down.It’s just that post-revolutionary democratization was mainly manifested in the army during the 1911 Revolution. Veterans who had experienced pre-revolutionary propaganda were more enthusiastic about democracy and equality, and the discipline of the army had to be wronged.

Speaking of which, what soldiers care most about is equality.This kind of equality is related to the party.Although there are ranks within the party, in theory, no matter how big or small the gang is, they are all brothers.Even the leader and the helmsman can't bully the little brother at will. For example, if he sleeps with the little brother's daughter-in-law, the brothers won't agree.If you rob something, you have to share it evenly. The so-called uncle means to share evenly and act righteously, and he doesn't have too many privileges.After the revolution, the leading uncles became officials, but this kind of gang equality, accompanied by the introduction of Western concepts by the revolutionaries, entered the revolutionary ranks, so these people's officials did not behave like officials.The difference is that the implementation of equality after the revolution sometimes requires democratic procedures, meetings and deliberations, and resolutions.Naturally, such an army generally has no discipline.Undoubtedly, this is not a democracy, but a spontaneous anarchic tendency.

An undisciplined army, even a revolutionary one, is quite formidable.Therefore, in all independent provinces where the revolutionary party dominates, the order is chaotic.Even in Nanjing, the capital, there were frequent mutinies, and the rioting soldiers came out to rob at every turn.The most famous is the mutiny of the troops in Jiangxi, which robbed the whole of Nanjing, and was finally disbanded by the Nanjing Provisional Government.In fact, there were a lot of soldiers who came out to rob at that time, from any unit.The officers of the Revolutionary Army could not control the troops, which has almost become a common problem.Only Li Liejun in Jiangxi, who used coercive means, was a little better.This is why Huang Xing had to lay off most of the revolutionary army when Sun Yat-sen handed over power and stayed in Nanjing.The existence of these troops serves no purpose except to tarnish the reputation of the revolutionary party.Such a terrible army is useless in fighting.Later, Yuan Shikai attacked the Kuomintang and removed several governors of the revolutionaries. Anhui, Hunan and Guangdong did not resist, and the army was useless at all. What resistance could there be?Only Jiangxi can still fight, but only for a while.