Article contents
Hai-lu-feng—The First Chinese Soviet Government (Part II)*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 February 2009
Extract
In the area under the rule of the Canton Government, the young Kuomintang members were full of revolutionary spirit and in favour of social change. In addition to this, the graduates of the Peasant Movement Training Institute, who were disciplined in the revolutionary atmosphere of the Institute, went out to the rural areas to organise the peasants. It is easy, then, to understand why the peasant unions developed rapidly in this area. Of course, even under the Canton Government, there were some countermovements among landlords, traditional local officials and their supporters.
- Type
- Chinese Communist History
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © The China Quarterly 1962
References
81 “Pen-pu t'e-p'ai-yüan ta hui chih i-chueh-an” (“A Draft of the Resolutions of the General Meeting of the Specially Assigned Personnel of this Department”), Chung-kuo Nung-min, No. 1, 1926Google Scholar. The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 186.Google Scholar
82 The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 139et seq.Google ScholarKen'ichi, Hatano, Chugoku kokuminto tsushi (General History of the Chinese Kuomintang), (Tokyo: 1941), p. 289Google Scholar. Not all the members of the Kuomintang and the officers of the Revolutionary Army took the side of the peasants. Such persons as the magistrates, who were appointed by the Canton Government, and the officers of the Revolutionary Army were sometimes sympathetic to the traditional landlordism, as, for example, in Kuang-ning.
83 Ping-ts'ui, Lui, Ko-ming-chün ti-i-tz'u tung-cheng shih-chan-chi (The Actual Record of the First Eastern Expedition of the Revolutionary Army), (Shanghai: Chung-hua Shu-chü, 1928), p. 205.Google Scholar
84 Ibid., p. 208.
85 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 31–32Google Scholar. Anon., Hai-lu-feng Su-wei-m (The Hai-lu-feng Soviet) (Shanghai?: 1928), p. 5.Google Scholar
86 Ping-ts'ui, Liu, op. cit., p. 337.Google Scholar
87 Ko-ming-chün, Kuo-min, Hai-lu-feng p'ing-kung-chi (A Record of Suppressing Communists in Hai-lu-feng) (Canton: ? 1928), p. 28Google Scholar. But Chung I-mou indicates P'eng Han-yuan was appointed in 1926. I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-men chan-tou, p. 196Google Scholar. Another source suggests that, in 1925, P'eng Han-yuan was the magistrate of Hai-feng hsien and Liu Ch'in-hsi, a man from Wu-hua hsien, was that of Lu-feng hsien. See Shau-po, Ch'en (ed.), Hai-lu-feng Ch'ih-huo-chi (A Record of Red Calamities in Hai-lu-feng) (Canton: 1932).Google Scholar
88 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 201.Google Scholar
89 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 36.Google Scholar
90 Yang-ling, Ho, op. cit., IV, p. 20.Google Scholar
91 Gen–ichi, Suzue, Chugoku ktaho to-so-shi (The History of the Emancipation Campaign in China), (Tokyo: Ishizaki-shoten, 1953), p. 514.Google Scholar
92 The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 178et seq.Google Scholar
93 Ibid., p. 185 et seq.
94 Ibid., p. 171 et seq.
95 Yūji, Muramatsu, op cit., pp. 161–162Google Scholar; Gen'ichi, Suzue, op. cit., p. 122.Google Scholar
96 I-mou, Chung, “Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-nien chan-tou,” p. 191.Google Scholar
97 Ibid.
98 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 40–41.Google Scholar
99 As mentioned already, the First Peasant Congress of Kwangtung Province, which started May 1, 1925, could not demand a reduction of rent. “The Draft of the Resolution on the Future Policy of the Peasant Union” shows the attitude of the First Peasant Congress: “The Peasant Union would have been destroyed if the reduction of rent had been demanded immediately after the Union was organised.” The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 180.Google Scholar
1 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-mln yun-tung, p. 40.Google Scholar
2 Ibid., p. 42.
3 Anon., op. cit., p. 8Google Scholar. It can be assumed, however, that the tenants still paid a part of their rent, at least to small landowners.
4 I-mou, Chung, “Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-nien chao-tou,” p. 193.Google Scholar
5 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 203Google Scholaret seq. I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 42–43.Google Scholar
6 Anon., op. cit., pp. 8–9.Google Scholar
7 Ibid., p. 9.
8 Ibid., pp. 10–11.
9 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 43.Google Scholar
10 kuo-min-tang, Chung-kuo, tang-pu hsüan-ch'uan-pu, kuang-tung-sheng (Department of Information, Provincial Party Branch in Kwangtung, Kuomintang), Chung-kuo Kuomintang Kuang-tung-sheng tang-pu cheng-li chin ching-kuo (The Process of the Establishing of the Provincial Party Branch of the Kuomintang in Kwangtung), Canton, 1925, pp. 55–56.Google Scholar
11 Tse-tung, Mao, “Report of Investigation into the Peasant Movement in Hunan,” Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung (London: Lawrence & Wishart, 1954), I, p. 21Google Scholar. The author uses “peasant union” instead of “peasant association” which the translator used.
12 The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 322.Google Scholar
13 Shiraki, Tachibana, Chugoku Kakumei-shiron (Articles on the History of the Chinese Revolution) (Tokyo: Nippon Hyōron-sha, 1950), pp. 158, 234.Google Scholar
14 Hsiang-tao Chou-pao, No. 199. 07 22, 1927Google Scholar. And also reprinted in The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 314.Google Scholar
15 The famous “Report of an Investigation into the Peasant Movemant in Hunan” by Mao Tse-tung was written in March, 1927 for the purpose of defending peasant radicalism in Hunan.
16 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 202.Google Scholar
17 “Kuang-tung-sheng nung-min i-nien-lai chih fen-tou pao-kao ta-kang” (“An Outline Report of the Struggles of the Peasants in Kwangtung Province for This One Year”), Chung-kuo Nung-min, amalgamated issue of Nos. 6 and 7, 07, 1926.Google Scholar
18 Yang-ling, Ho, op. cit., III, p. 82et seq. Italics mine.Google Scholar
19 Gen'ichi, Sttzue, op. cit., p. 534.Google Scholar
20 Cf., Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 209.Google Scholar
21 Te, Yü, op. cit., p. 50.Google Scholar
22 Chung-kuo Nung-min, Nos. 4 and 5.
23 See Part I of this article, The China Quarterly, No. 8, p. 182.Google Scholar
24 The Peasant Movement During the Period of the First Revolutionary Civil War, p. 22.Google Scholar
25 Smedley, Agnes, The Great Road, The Life and Times of Chu Teh (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1956), pp. 185, 205.Google Scholar
26 Eudin, and North, , op. cit., pp. 356–364Google Scholar, Jōhōbu, Gaimushō, op. cit., pp. 156–171.Google Scholar
27 Stalin expressed his opinion concerning these two principles at the meeting of the Chinese Commission of the Executive Committee of the Comintern on November 30, 1926. “I know that there are Kuomintangists and even Chinese Communists who do not consider it possible to unleash a revolution in the countryside, since they fear that if the peasantry were drawn into the revolution it would disrupt the united anti-imperialist front. That is a profound error, comrades. The more quickly and thoroughly the Chinese peasantry is drawn into the revolution, the stronger and more powerful the anti-imperialist front in China will be. The authors of the thesis, especially Tan P'ing-shan and Rafes, are quite right in maintaining that the immediate satisfaction of a number of the most urgent demands of the peasants is an essential condition for the victory of the Chinese revolution.” Works of J. V. Stalin (Moscow: 1954), VIII, p. 385.Google Scholar
28 Cf. Schwartz, Benjamin, Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao (Harvard Un.: 1952), p. 63Google Scholaret seq. North, Robert C., Moscow and the Chinese Communists (Stanford Un.: 1953), p. 91et seq.Google Scholar
29 Tōa-kyoku Daini-ka, Gaimushō (Second Section, Bureau of Eastern Asia, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Chugoku Kakumei (Chinese Revolution), a Japanese version of Pavel Mif, Chinese Revolution (Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1934), pp. 215–216.Google Scholar
30 Kuwajima, , op. cit., p. 90.Google Scholar
31 Snow, Edgar, Red Star Over China, rev. ed. (New York: Modern Library, 1944), p. 162.Google Scholar
32 Ibid.
33 But another source indicates that the head was T'an Yen-k'ai. Suzue, , op. cit., p. 169.Google Scholar
34 Te, Yü, op. cit., p. 50.Google Scholar
35 Osaka Taishi Keizai Renmei (Osaka League of Economic Activities towards China), ed., So-renpo Shina Manshu no kyosan undo (The Communist Movements in the Soviet Union, China and Manchuria) (Tokyo: Shinkō-sha 1934), p. 314Google Scholar. Another source, which shows the “Nanchang” opinion, is Gen'ichi, Suzue, op. cit., p. 245.Google Scholar
36 Kuo Mo-jo proves in his memoirs that P'eng P'ai, Li Li-san, T'an P'ing-shan, Chou En-lai, and Yun Tai-ying were in Nanchang. Mo-jo, Kuo, Hai-tao (Billows) (Shanghai: Hsin-wen-yi Ch'u-pan-she, 1951), pp. 31–33Google Scholar. Chu Teh told Agnes Smedley, “Liu Po-cheng was chairman of the Front Committee and Chou En-lai the vice-chairman. Other members were Yen Chien-ying, li Li-san, and Chang Kuo-tao party leaders, and Tan Ping-shan, and Lin Tsu-han.” Smedley, , op. cit., p. 201.Google Scholar
37 It is assumed that the origin of this “Kiukiang” opinion among the Japanese sources was Kuwajima, , op. cit., p. 91.Google Scholar
38 Han-ping, Liang, Chung-kuo hsien-tai Ko-ming-shih chiao-hsüe ti-kang (Lecture Outline of the Revolutionary History of Modern China) (Tientsin: T'ung-su Ch'u-panshe, 1955), p. 87Google Scholar. Kan-chin, Ho, Chung-kuo hsien-tai ko-ming-shih (Revolutionary History of Modern China) (Peking: Kao-tung Chiao-yü Ch'u-pan-she, 1957), I, p. 124Google Scholar. The sources from mainland China do not give details about this Emergency Conference. There is a Chinese version of a part of Snow's Red Star Over China which was published in 1947 by a Communist publisher in Ta-lien, in which the part giving some of the names of the attempts at the conference was left out. One may wonder whether there was any specific reason to keep names secret
39 Jōhōbu, Gainwshō, Chugoku Kyosanto sen-kyuhyaku-sanju-go-nen shi (History of the Chinese Communist Party in the Year 1935) (Tokyo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 1936), p. 640Google Scholar. Shiraki, Tachibana, op. cit., p. 243Google Scholar. Li-Ang, , Hung-seh Wu-t'ai (Red Stage) (Chungking: Sheng-li Ch'u-pan-she, 1942), p. 18.Google Scholar
40 Imprecar, 08 18, 1927.Google Scholar
41 Mo-jo, Kuo, op. cit., p. 31.Google Scholar
42 Hoshen, Ts'ai, “Tō to hiyorimishugi” (“The Party and Opportunism”), Shina Kakumei ronbun-shu (A Collection of Articles on the Chinese Revolution), translated into Japanese by Shin'ichi, Yamaguchi (Tokyo: Marukusu shobō, 1930), p. 171.Google Scholar
43 Mo-jo, Kuo, op. cit., p. 33.Google Scholar
44 Shiraki, Tachibana, op. cit., p. 254Google Scholar. Gen'ichi, Suzue, op. cit., p. 265Google Scholar. reizō, Otsuka, Shina Kyosanto-shi (History of the Chinese Communist Party) (Tokyo: Seikatsusha, 1940), I, p. 74.Google Scholar
45 Ibid., p. 76.
46 Asiaticus, , “Autobiography of General Yeh T'ing,” Amerasia, Vol. V, No. 1, 03 1941.Google Scholar
47 Mo-Jo, Kuo, op. cit., pp. 35–36.Google Scholar
48 Elegant, Robert, China's Red Masters (New York: Twayne, 1951), p. 108.Google Scholar
49 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 72–74Google Scholar; Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 151.Google Scholar
50 Gen'ichi, Suzue, op. cit., p. 249.Google Scholar
51 Isaacs, Harold, The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution, rev. edition (Stanford Un.: 1951), p. 281.Google Scholar
52 This decision is discussed on p. 176 et seq. below.
53 Later changed to Provincial Committee. The Hai-lu-feng Committee was one of the local committees under its jurisdiction.
54 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 204.Google Scholar
55 The armaments objective was realised on a very small scale. Anon., op. cit., p. 11Google Scholar. se Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 203.Google Scholar
57 Anon., op. cit., pp. 13–16.Google Scholar
58 Ibid., p. 17.
59 Lin T'ieh-shih was educated at Keiō University in Tokyo (from a registration file of Keiō University).
60 I-mou, Chung, Hal-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 55Google Scholar. ko-ming-chün, Kuo-min, op. cit., p. 30.Google Scholar
61 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 204Google Scholar. Anon., op. cit., p. 21.Google Scholar
62 I-mou, Chung, Hal-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 57Google Scholar. Ts'ai Ting-li, secretary of Chang Shan-ming at this time, told Nym Wales, “Nearly every day I saw peasants who had been hurt by their own home-made guns. The bullets flew back and wounded them. Most of them used bamboo pikes with an iron tip.” Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 204.Google Scholar
63 I-mou, ChungHai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 31, 98Google Scholar; I-mou, Chung, “Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-nien chan-tou,” p. 202.Google Scholar
64 Anon., op. cit., pp. 22–23Google Scholar. It is assumed that the story of the abortive attack on the town of Hai-feng, which was described in Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 206Google Scholaret seq., dealt with this third attack, though it gave the date as the 15th or 16th day of the Seventh Month in the lunar calendar.
65 Nym Wales, ibid., p. 205.
66 Anon., op. cit., p. 24.Google Scholar
67 Ibid., p. 25.
68 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 59–65.Google Scholar
69 Cho, Fan, “Ta-ko-ming ch'ien-hou ko-ming tou-cheng te tuan-p'ien hui-i” (Memoirs of Episodes of the Revolutionary Straggles around the Period of the Great Revolution), in the above-cited Chung-kuo Kung-ch'an-tang tsai chung-nan-ti-ch'ü ling-tao koming tou-cheng te li-shih tzu-liao, I, pp. 128–129Google Scholar, vide footnote 49 ante. Another false rumour was reported by Nym Wales, “About a hundred Hai-lu-feng corps men joined the Kiangsi army, and later a temporary people's government was established near Kiangsi at Swatow. Kuo Mo-jo and Soong Ching-ling were elected to this government. Wu Ching-ming [sic] led his Self-defence corps to attack Swatow with the Kiangsi troops and was killed in battle in the winter of 1927.” Wales, Nym, op. cit., pp. 204–205.Google Scholar
70 Anon., op. cit., pp. 29–31.Google Scholar
71 Ibid., p. 32.
72 I-mou, Chung, Ha-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 66–67.Google Scholar
73 Ibid., pp. 66–69.
74 Anon., op. cit., pp. 34–36.Google Scholar
75 Ibid., p. 38.
76 Ibid., pp. 38–39.
77 Ibid., pp. 41–43.
78 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 74–75.Google Scholar
79 Fonnerly Li Chi-ch'en.
80 Anon., op. cit., pp. 44–48, 60.Google Scholar
81 Anon., op. cit., p. 43Google Scholar. I-mou, Chung, “Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-nien chan-tou,” pp. 207–208.Google Scholar
82 Anon, loc. cit.
83 P'ai, P'eng, op. cit., p. 44.Google Scholar
84 As for the “revolutionary committee,” the November Resolution of the Politburo reads as follows: “The guerrilla peasant movement is to attack and to move in turn, and therefore its leading organ is the revolutionary committee which has the character of a temporary government. In short, when a peasant uprising takes place, the revolutionary committee elected from peasant unions or other secret peasant organisations in this area leads it. In case of an urban uprising, the revolutionary committee elected from trade unions and others does the same task.” Shiraki, Tachibana, op. cit., p. 263Google Scholar. Another Japanese version of this part of the resolution is cited in Gen'ichi, Suzue, op. cit., p. 260.Google Scholar
85 Anon., op. cit., p. 59Google Scholar. I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yün-tung, pp. 79–80.Google Scholar
86 Anon., op. cit., p. 57.Google Scholar
87 Ibid.
88 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 84–85.Google Scholar
89 Ibid., p. 85.
90 Ibid., pp. 84–86.
91 Kazue, Kuwajima, op. cit., p. 281.Google Scholar
92 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 86, 97.Google Scholar
93 Ibid., pp. 86–87.
94 San, Kim and Wales, Nym, Song of Ariran, The Life History of a Korean Rebel (New York: John Day, 1941), p. 243.Google Scholar
95 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 75.Google Scholar
96 I-mou, Chung, “Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-nien chan-tou,” p. 207.Google Scholar
97 Anon., op. cit., p. 51.Google Scholar
98 San, Kim and Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 103Google Scholar. Another source indicates that they arrived on December 19. I-mou, Chung, “Hai-lu-feng nung-min te pa-nien chantou,” p. 210.Google Scholar
99 ko-ming-chün, Kuo-min, op. cit., p. 87.Google Scholar
1 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 157.Google Scholar
2 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 104.Google Scholar
3 San, Kim and Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 110.Google Scholar
4 Ibid.
5 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p. 98.Google Scholar
6 Ibid., p. 102. A source from the revolutionary side indicates that the persons bable for execution were as follows: exploiting and corrupted officials, local rascals, oppressive gentry, landlords, spies, organisers, policemen, security guards, informers, tax-farmers, persons employed by enemy organs, persons who gave refuge to enemies and anti-revolutionaries, and persons who worked for the enemies. Anon., op. cit., pp. 82–83Google Scholar. Besides these, the sources from the anti-soviet side add the blind and the old. koming-chun, Kuo-min, op. cit., p. 34Google Scholar; Kuwajima, , op. cit., p. 435.Google Scholar
7 San, Kim and Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 107.Google Scholar
8 Tse-tung, Mao, op. cit., I, p. 27.Google Scholar
9 Anon., op. cit., pp. 49, 80–84Google Scholar. It is doubtful that this labour law was carried out, because they had to raise the productivity of their poor industry to its maximum as they were tightly surrounded by the anti-revolutionary forces.
10 Ibid., p. 86.
11 Ibid., p. 36.
12 Shiraki, Tachibana, op. cit., p. 253Google Scholaret seq. Gen'ichi, Suzne, op. cit., pp. 250–270.Google Scholar
13 There is circumstantial evidence which suggests that the commanders of the anti-revolutionary regular forces did not pay attention to these Hai-lu-feng soviets. Ts'ai T'ing-ch'ieh (or Ts-ai T'ing-kai), a general under Ch'en Ming-shu's command, raided Wu-hua, Lao Lung and Ho Yuan around the territory of the Hai-lu-feng soviets in this period. But he did not mention the soviets at all in his autobiography. Ting-ch'ieh, Ts'ai, Ts'ai Ting-ch'ieh tzu-ch'uan (Autobiography of Ts'ai Ting-ch'ieh), (Hongkong: Tzu-yu Ch'u-pan-she, 1946), pp. 227–228.Google Scholar
14 A kind of self-defence corps under the control of the landlords.
15 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 99Google Scholaret seq. and 107 et seq.
16 They tried to expand the area of the soviets and disjtetched troops to Hui-yan Hsien, but a month later these were forced to retreat by the anti-revolutionary force. I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, p 106.Google Scholar
17 Kim San and Nym Wales mistook Ts'ai Teng-hui for Ts'ai T'ing-ch'ieh (Ts'ai T'ing-kai). San, Kim and Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 111.Google Scholar
18 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 109–114.Google Scholar
19 Ibid., p. 111.
20 San, Kiin and Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 111.Google Scholar
21 Ibid., pp. 111–114.
22 Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 151.Google Scholar
23 San, Kim and Wales, Nym, op. cit., p. 122.Google Scholar
24 A report of the suppression was found in ko-min-chün, Kuo-min, op. cit., pp. 49–77.Google Scholar
23 Kuwajima, , op. cit., p. 281.Google Scholar
28 A memoir tells that a peasant soldier met P'eng P'ai in Hai-feng in the Second Month of the lunar calendar, 1929. Fêng-Jen, Ting ed., Kwang-tung nung-min ying-mu (Peasant Heroes in Kwangtung) (Canton: Hsin-hua Shu-tien, 1950), p. 13.Google Scholar
27 In a Japanese translation of the Election Law proclaimed by the centre of the Chinese Communist Party on September 20, 1930. Kabushiki-gaisha, Minamimanshū Tetsudo (South Manchuria Railway Co.), Iwayuru Kogun mondai (So-called Red Army Problems) (Dairen: South Manchurian Railway Co., 1930), p. 277.Google Scholar
28 Ryojikan, Nankin (Japanese Consulate in Nanking), Shina Kyosanto oyobi kyohi ni kansunt kenkyu shiryo (Research Materials Concerning the Chinese Communist Party and Communist Bandits), mimeo. (1930), Document No. 11.Google Scholar
29 I-mou, Chung, Hai-lu-feng nung-min yun-tung, pp. 120–123.Google Scholar
30 Nankin Ryōjikan, op. cit., Document No. 14.
31 It is assumed that P'eng P'ai himself did not go to Moscow.
32 Kikan, Onodera, op. cit., pp. 363–364, 483–484Google Scholar. Feng, Hou, op. cit., p. 45.Google Scholar
33 Tse-tung, Mao, “The Struggle in the Chingkang Mountains,” op. cit., I, p. 71et seq.Google Scholar
34 For example: “… not realising that the period was one in which the ruling classes enjoyed temporary stability.…” Mao Tse-tung, ibid., I, p. 68; “If the Party in the border area cannot find adequate economic measures, then, under the condition that the enemy's rule remains stable for some time, the independent régime will come up against great difficulties.” Ibid., I, p. 70.
35 Ibid., I, p. 98.
- 4
- Cited by