Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T11:54:50.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Misconceived Revolution: State and Society in China's Nationalist Revolution, 1923–26

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 March 2011

Get access

Extract

The process of state-building in the Chinese revolution was confounded, and remains obscured, by a contest between rival claimants to state power in the Nationalist and Communist parties. There is a natural temptation to trace conflict in the state-building process to ideological differences between the two parties, as they did themselves, and to overlook their similarities and downplay the potential for political conflict and social resistance inherent in state-building generally. This is the case with histories of the Nationalist Revolution of the 1920s, when the two parties came together briefly to fight for national unification and independence. Each party is assigned an irreconcilable difference of purpose, the Nationalists aiming for cohesive national revolution and the Communists for divisive social revolution, and their combined efforts are represented as the historical working through of this conflict of purpose (Rankin, Fairbank, and Feuerwerker 1986:10; Wilbur 1984). The clash of aims seems to be not far removed from a clash of ideologies, and the collapse of this First United Front is portrayed as the historical resolution to a philosophical contradiction. In the definitive words of C. Martin Wilbur, “The main weakness was disagreement among the leaders concerning the social goals of the national revolution,” traceable to “competing ideologies among intellectuals throughout China” (Wilbur 1968:223). Conflict between the parties and within society boils down, in the end, to an ideological dispute.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The Association for Asian Studies, Inc. 1990

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Works Cited

Amsden, Alice H. 1985. “The State and Taiwan's Economic Development.” In Skocpol 1985.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bianco, Lucien. 1986. “Peasant Movements.” In Fairbank and Feuerwerker 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cai, Hesen. 1924. “Shangtuan shijian de jiaoxun” [The lessons of the merchant militia incident]. Xiangdao zhoubao 82 (September 10).Google Scholar
Chen, Duxiu. 1923. “Zhongguo guomin geming yu shehui ge jieji” [Social classes in China's Nationalist Revolution]. Qianfeng 2 (December 1).Google Scholar
Chen, Duxiu. 1924. “Guomin geming de yige genben wenti” [A basic problem in the Nationalist Revolution]. Xiangdao zhoubao 85 (October 1).Google Scholar
Chen, Duxiu. 1925. “Zhongguo minzu yundong zhong zhi zichan jieji” [The capitalist class in the Chinese nationalist movement]. Xiangdao zhoubao 136 (November 21).Google Scholar
Ch'en, Jerome. 1983. “The Chinese Communist Movement to 1927.” In Fairbank 1983.Google Scholar
Chesneaux, Jean. 1969. “The Federalist Movement in China, 1920–1923.” In Modern China's Search for a Political Form, ed. Jack, Gray. London: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Chesneaux, Jean, Françoise, Le Barbier, AND Marie, Claire Bergére, 1977. China from the 1911 Revolution to Liberation. Hassocks: Harvester Press.Google Scholar
Chiang, Kaishek. 1947. China's Destiny. New York: Roy Publishers.Google Scholar
Dai, Jitao. 1925. Sun Wen zhuyi zhi zhexue de jichu [The philosophical foundations of Sun Yatsen-ism]. Shanghai: Minzhi Shuju.Google Scholar
Dai, Jitao. 1926. “Quanti de liyi yu bufen de liyi ji dangtuan de yiyi” [The interests of the whole and of the parts and the significance of party fractions]. In Dai Jitao xiansheng wencun zai xubian [Additional further works of Dai Jitao], ed. Chen, Tianxi. Taibei: Shangwu.Google Scholar
Degras, Jane, ed. 1971. The Communist International, 1919–1943: Documents. 3 vols. London: Frank Cass.Google Scholar
Dongjiang, . 1926. “Dongjiang geshu xingzheng huiyi jilue” [Records of the administrative conference of all districts in the East River region]. In Zhengzhi zhoubao 9 (April 26).Google Scholar
Eastman, Lloyd E. 1974. The Abortive Revolution: China Under Nationalist Rule, 1927–1937 Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fairbank, John K. 1962. The United States and China. Rev. ed. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Fairbank, John K. ed. 1983. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 12: Republican China, 1911–1949, Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fairbank, John K. 1986. The Great Chinese Revolution, 1800–1985. New York: Harper and Row.Google Scholar
Fairbank, John K., AND Albert, Feuerwerker, eds.1986. The Cambridge History of China, Volume 13: Republican China 1911–1949, Part 2. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fang, Gang. 1924. “Guomindang gaizu hou zhi Guangdong” [Guangdong after the Nationalist Party reorganization]. Xin minguo 1, no. 5 (March 30).Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, John. 1982. “A Rival to Mass and Military Politics: Parliamentary Politics and the Guomindang, 1919–1925.” Papers on Far Eastern History 25.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, John. 1989a. “The Irony of the Chinese Revolution: The Nationalists and Chinese Society, 1923–1927.” In Fitzgerald 1989b.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, John, ed. 1989b. The Nationalists and Chinese Society, 1923–1937': A Symposium. Melbourne: Melbourne University History Monographs.Google Scholar
Fitzgerald, John. 1990. “A Greater Disunity: Chen Jitang and the Politics and Finance of Guangdong Separatism, 1926–1936.” Modern Asian Studies (forthcoming).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, Josephine. 1989. “The Shanghai General Chamber of Commerce and the Themes of Chinese Nationalism.” In Fitzgerald 1989b.Google Scholar
Gan, Naiguang. 1926. “Shenshi mintuan xianzhang heyi fandui nonghui?” [Why do the gentry, village militia and county heads oppose peasant associations?]. Zhongguo nongmin 10.Google Scholar
Hofheinz, Roy Jr. 1977. The Broken Wave: The Chinese Communist Peasant Movement, 1922–1928. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huang, Ao. 1926. “Nanzheng de jingguo he ganxiang” [Impressions and progress of the Southern Expedition]. Junshi zhengzhi yuekan 4 (April).Google Scholar
Huang, Jilu. 1959. “Dai Jitao xiansheng yu zaoqi fangong yundong” [Dai Jitao and the early anti-communist movement]. In Dai Jitao xiansheng shishi shizhounian jinian tekan [Special issue commemorating the tenth anniversary of the death of Dai Jitao]. Taipei.Google Scholar
Huishu, . 1926. “Huishu tebie weiyuanhui gongzuo baogao” [Working report of the Huishu special committee]. In Zhongguo guomindang guangdong sheng dangbu dangwu yuebao 2 (March).Google Scholar
Isaacs, Harold. 1961. The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution. 2d rev. ed. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Philip A. 1975. “Local Self-government Under the Republic: Problems of Control, Autonomy, and Mobilization.” In Conflict and Control in Late Imperial China, ed. FredericWakeman, Jr. Wakeman, Jr., AND Carolyn, Grant. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Li, Jiannong. 1930. Zuijin sanshinian zhongguo zhengzhi shi [A political history of China over the past thirty years]. Shanghai: Taiping Yang Shudian.Google Scholar
Li, Jiannong. 1956. The Political History of China, 1840–1928, trans, and ed. Ssu-yu, Teng and Jeremy, Ingalls. Stanford: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Li, Yunhan. 1966. Cong ronggong dao qingdang [From the admission of the communists to party purification]. 2 vols. Taipei: Jinghua Yinshuguan.Google Scholar
Liao, Zhongkai. 1926. “Liao Zhongkai xiansheng zai zhongshan xian nongmin huiyi zhi yanshuo” [Liao Zhongkai's speech at the Zhongshan County peasant conference]. Zhongguo nongmin 3 (March).Google Scholar
Lin, Yizhong. 1926. “Nanzheng ji” [Record of the Southern Expedition]. Junshi zhengzhi yuekan 5 (July).Google Scholar
Luo, Yangqing. 1926. “Di si jun zhengzhi bu nanzheng gongzuo jingguo gailue” [A general outline of work progress of the Fourth Army Politbureau on the Southern Expedition]. Junshi zhengzhi yuekan 6 (August).Google Scholar
McDonald, Angus W. Jr. 1978. The Urban Origins of Rural Revolution: Elites and the Masses in Hunan Province, China, 19111921. Berkeley and Los Angeles, University of California Press.Google Scholar
Mao, Zedong. [1927] 1969. “Report of an Investigation of the Peasant Movement in Hunan.” In Selected Works of Mao Tse-tung 1:2359. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press.Google Scholar
Marks, Robert B. 1984. Rural Revolution in South China: Peasants and the Making of History in Haifeng County, 1570–1930. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Miao, Xiangchu. 1926. “Nanzheng zhengzhi xuanchuan gongzuo zong baogao” [General report of political propaganda work on the Southern Expedition]. Junshi zhengzhi yuekan 5 (July).Google Scholar
Nanlu, . 1926. “Nanlu geshu xianzheng huiyi jueyi an” [Resolutions of the southern district county heads conference]. Zhengzhi zhoubao 11 (May 10).Google Scholar
Peng, Pai. 1924. “Guanyu haifeng nongmin yundong de yi feng xin” [A letter on the Haifeng peasant movement]. Xiangdao zhoubao 70 (June 18).Google Scholar
Qiaogang, . 1924. “Qiaogang Qiongyai gongmin weichihui” [Citizens support group of Hong Kong and Hainan]. Second Historical Archives of China, Nanjing, March 7.Google Scholar
Qu, Qiubai. 1925. “Wusa yundong zhong zhi guomin geming yu jieji douzheng” [Nationalist Revolution and class struggle in the May Thirtieth Movement]. Xiangdao zhoubao 129 (September 11).Google Scholar
Rankin, Mary B., John, K. Fairbank, AND Albert, Feuerwerker. 1986. “Introduction: Perspectives on modern China's history.” In Fairbank and Feuerwerker 1986.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rigby, Richard. 1980. The May 30 Movement: Events and Themes. Canberra: Australian National University Press.Google Scholar
Ruan, Xiaoxian. 1926. “Huiyang xian nongmin xiehui chengli zhi jingguo” [The process of establishing the Huiyang County peasant association], Zhongguo nongmin 3 (March).Google Scholar
Sansom, Brenda. 1988. “Minsheng and National Liberation: Socialist Theory in the Guomindang, 1919–1931.” Ph.D. diss., University of Wisconsin-Madison.Google Scholar
Skocpol, Theda. 1979. States and Social Revolutions: A Comparative Analysis of France, Russia, and China. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Skocpol, Theda, Peter, B. Evans, AND Dietrich, Rueschemeyer, eds.1985. Bringing the State Back In. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Sun, Yatsen. 1927. San Min Chi I [The Three People's Principles], ed. Ch'en, Lit'ing; trans. Frank, W. Price. Shanghai: Institute of Pacific Relations.Google Scholar
Tang, Leang-Li. 1936. The New Social Order in China. Shanghai: China United Press.Google Scholar
Wang, Xinming. 1957. Xinwen quan li sishi nian [Forty years in journalism]. Taipei: Haitian Chuban She.Google Scholar
Wilbur, C. Martin. 1968. “Military Separatism and the Process of Reunification Under the Nationalist regime, 1922–1937.” In China in Crisis, Volume 1, Book 1: China's Heritage and the Communist Political System, ed. Ping-ti, Ho and Tang, Tsou. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Wilbur, C. Martin. 1976. Sun Yat-sen: Frustrated Patriot. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Wilbur, C. Martin. 1984. The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923–1928. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilbur, C. Martin 1988. “The Beginnings of the Farmers Movement in Guangdong, 1924–1926.” Zhongyang yanjiu yuan jindai shi yanjiuso jikan 17 (June).Google Scholar
Yun, Daiying (pseud. Dan Yi).1924. “He wei guomin geming?” [What is this Nationalist Revolution?]. Zhongguo qingnian 20 (March 1).Google Scholar
Zhengzhi, . 1926. Zhengzhi gongzuo, February 20.Google Scholar
Zhou, Enlai (pseud. Wu Hao).1924. “Zuijin er yue Guangzhou zhengxiang zhi gaiguan” [An overview of the political situation in Guangzhou over the past two months]. Xiangdao zhoubao 92 (November 19).Google Scholar
Zou, Lu. 1976. Zhongguo guomindang shigao [Draft history of the Chinese Nationalist Party]. In Zoulu quanji [Complete works of Zou Lu], ed. Guoli, zhongshan daxue xiaoyou hui. 6 vols. Taipei: Sanmin Shuju.Google Scholar