Grigori Voitinsky, first head of the Comintern’s Far Eastern Bureau, and liaison to China central to the formation of the C.C.P. with an informative background on the conditions led to the ‘First United Front’ where the Communist Party joined the KMT.

‘Imperialism and National Movement in China’ by Grigori Voitinsky from Workers Monthly. Vol. 4 No. 3. January, 1925.

THE events which developed in China up to the end of last August, mark the beginning of a general imperialist offensive, not only in China, but also in the other colonial and semi-colonial countries. In Persia, the offensive is being conducted somewhat differently from the way it is conducted in Afghanistan, and in Egypt it is not quite the same as in India or China; but in all these countries the imperialist offensive is being launched with the object of stemming the wave of national emancipation and of consolidating the position of the imperialists. In every country of the East where the Union of Soviet Republics is not only intellectually popular, but has also succeeded in establishing diplomatic and commercial relations, the imperialists are obstinately resisting the growing influence of the Soviets.

If we regard the events in China from this point of view alone, we shall begin to understand the true reasons for the action of the British imperialists against the South China Republic, at the head of which stands Sun Yat Sen, the leader of the National Revolutionary Party of China, and of the actions of British, American, French, and Japanese imperialists in Shanghai, Nanking, Tientsin, and the other towns of Central and Southern China. If the imperialists on this occasion do not go so far as to seize by force of arms the important trading and maritime centers of China, it will only be, first, because the conflicting interests of the various imperialist groups prevent them from coming to an agreement regarding the spheres of influence, and, second, because they do not believe it is possible at present to establish general economic and political control over China except by armed intervention thruout the whole extent of the country.

To achieve this aim the Anglo-American imperialists must take advantage of the internal war of the Chinese militarists in order to destroy the remnants of Japanese influence, and partly of French influence in China so as finally to consolidate and extend the influence of Anglo-American capitalism.

This explains the profound interest displayed by the British and the Americans in the struggle now going on between the Chinese generals of the provinces of Kiang Su and CheKiang for the possession of the important port of Shanghai. Two factors stand out clearly in the present events in China: the attack of the British imperialists upon Canton, the capital of the South China Republic, and the war of the Northern generals, instigated by the foreign imperialists.

In order to understand these events and their importance to the toiling masses of China, we must deal with each factor individually and then connect them with the general imperialist offensive in China.

The Dissolution of China.

During the revolution of 1911, when the foreign dynasty of the Manchus was overthrown by the revolutionary party of Kuo Min Tang, Southern China, and especially the Province of Kwantung, became the base of the movement for a republic and the democratization of China, as opposed to the remnants of the monarchy and the reactionary generals who had become the tools of foreign capitalism.

The Chinese revolution of 1911, which matured during the Chinese-Japanese war of 1894, and after which the Chinese masses began to feel the full weight of foreign oppression, may be described as a war against the monarchists’ dynasty, with the help of which the imperialists enslaved China. The movement against foreign oppression was general among all sections of the Chinese population, but was headed by a handful of revolutionary intellectuals and intellectual militarists, supported by the merchant bourgeoisie who were suffering to no little degree from the despotic government.

At the time of the revolution of 1911, there were no clearly defined classes ir China. The economically enslaved peasants and the poor workers of the towns, as well as the politically unenfranchised merchant bourgeoisie, all cherished a common hatred against the imperial government and against the foreigners. Kuo Min Tang was not a political party in our sense of the word. It had neither a program nor a real organization, neither had it a stable membership. Kuo Min Tang was a committee which was able to direct the elemental movement of the great masses of the Chinese people solely against the Manchu Dynasty which then ruled China. With the dethronement of the widowed empress, Kuo Min Tang considered the revolution at an end, and believed that now a republican form of government and a democratic constitution were established, all necessary social and economic reforms would follow.

The elemental movement of the Chinese masses against the imperial power and against foreign imperialism was so great that the monarchy was overthrown with comparative ease, and even the secret supporters of the monarchy and the feudal aristocracy (the Mandarins) associated themselves with the revolutionaries. In order to defend the revolution from certain generals and imperialists, the presidential authority was voluntarily surrendered by Sun Yet Sen, the leader of Kuo Min Tang, to Yuan-Shih-Kai, the organizer of the military party Hei-Yan, who very soon afterwards rallied the former feudal lords and attempted with the aid of the Japanese Mikado to restore the monarchy and to appoint himself emperor. Once more Kuo Min Tang succeeded in defeating the plans of the monarchists, but it was never able to extend its power and authority over the whole of China.

The imperialists, taking advantage of the civil war in China, or rather of the incomplete struggle of the Chinese masses against the monarchy and against foreign capitalism, artificially fanned the rivalry between the various feudal governors, bribing some, supplying arms to others and spurring them on against each other, thereby increasing the centrifugal forces, disrupting feudal China after the fall of the monarchy, which in its time served as the center of the political and administrative life of the country.

Therefore, after the revolution of 1911, China broke up into a number of provinces, each headed by a military governor, or Tuchun, who became an independent authority in military and political questions. During the course of time, however, the strongest of the Tuchuns succeeded in subordinating to themselves certain of the weaker Tuchuns, and China thus became divided up not so much into separate provinces, as into groups of provinces, each headed by a super-Tuchun. For example, the three northern provinces (Manchuria) are controlled by Marshal Chang-Tso-Lin; at the head of the provinces of Central China—Chihli, Shan-si, Shen-si, Shantung, Honan Hu-pei—stands the war lerd, Wu-Pei-Fu; at the head of the Southwestern provinces—Hunan, Kwei-Chow, Kiang-si—stands Tang-Shi-Yao. Moreover, each of the super-Tuchuns is always organizing movements for the extension of his influence. Behind each of the super-Tuchuns stands an imperialist power. The imperialists always support the wars between the Tuchuns with the hope of securing a firmer hold upon China, economically and politically.

The history of China since the world war is the history of the wars between the super-Tuchuns, which in their turn reflect the warring interests of the Anglo-American and Japanese influences in China.

Only the southernmost part of China, the province of Kwantung, which has a population of thirty millions and possesses several large ports on the Pacific, has not fallen under the control of a Tuchun. Authority there is exercised by the national revolutionary Party of Kuo Min Tang, led by Sun Yat Sen.

Around each of the super-Tuchuns there is a military clique which represents a sort of political center, decides the tactics of the Tuchun, and creates around him a corresponding political atmosphere. There are three political cliques, or parties, especially important in the life of contemporary China. The Chihli clique (named after the province of Chihli, the chief town of which is Peking), headed by the Chinese president, Tsao-Kun and by Wu-Pei-Fu; the Fintiang clique, headed by Chang-Tso-Lin; and the Anhu clique, headed by the important Chinese politician and reactionary, Tuan-Chi-jui. The first clique, which is at present the strongest, is supported by the Anglo-American imperialists, and the second clique by the Japanese. The Tuchun of the three Southwestern provinces, (Tan-Tsi-Yao) sympathizes with the An-hu clique, and is also well disposed towards SunYat-Sen.

Such is the distribution of forces as regards the political and administrative power in China.

The Situation in Southern China.

From what has been said, it will be seem that the territory of the national revolutionary Party of Kuo Min Tang represents only a very small part of China. It is astonishing, therefore, how this party managed to win a province and not to submit to the so-called Central Government of China, or to any of the Tuchuns. The reason why the Chinese re publicans foregathered in this province and managed to conquer it, lies, most probably, in the fact that Kwantung, especially Canton, was the place from which the Chinese emigres left for foreign ports such as Java, Singapore, Japan and America. As a matter of fact, the Kuo Min Tang Party assembled its revolutionary forces abroad. Shortly prior to the revolution and immediately afterwards, many emigrants returned to their home country, chiefly to the province of Kwantung. Here was the strongest center of the Kuo Min Tang and here were its strongest connections with the masses.

Moreover, both the South and the Southwest of China tended to separate themselves from the rest of the country and to remain independent, at least as long as Central and Northern China were ruled by imperialists.

This tendency is explained by the fact that the merchant capitalists of Southern China were interested, not so much in the home market, as in the islands of the Pacific, where they acted as middlemen in the British and American trade. The exclusive influence of British capitalism in this part of China undoubtedly helped to strengthen this tendency. Also an important factor, no doubt, was the fact that Southern China has a different language from the rest of China. But in any case, when the old constitutional parliament was dispersed in 1913 by the military dictator, Yuan-Shih-Kai, Southern China became the asylum of the revolutionary exiles from whence they directed their movement against the Northern militarists. Canton, the capital of the Province of Kwantung, one of the largest ports of China and situated within five hours from Hongkong, the British stronghold in the Pacific, which was seized from China by the British after the famous opium war, became the center of the revolutionary party of Kuo Min Tang, and is now the center of the nationalist government headed by Sun-Yat-Sen.

Kuo Min Tang and Sun-Yat-Sen did not succeed in establishing themselves at once in Kwantung. In 1918, and again at the beginning of 1922, Sun Yat Sen was obliged to flee from the town and once more became a political emigre. Only in February, 1923, did he finally return to Canton, and his party became the governing party of the Province of Kwantung.

Although the territory of Kuo Min Tang consists of a single province, its influence makes itself felt in a number of other provinces, and is regarded with sympathy practically thruout the whole of China. In certain provinces its supporters act legally, in others illegally, but its supporters are almost everywhere.

Up to January of the present year, however, Kuo Min Tang, as we have said, had neither a program nor a real organization. It occupied itself chiefly with the preparation of military movements: against the Northern militarists and against the generals of South China, who, without possessing large armies, are always striving to seize some province r other. It was only when the Chinese Communists in 1923 decided to enter Kuo Min Tang personally that it began to become a real party. In January last, the first All-China Congress of Kuo Min Tang was held in Canton, at which it drew up a program and statutes, and dealt with the question of political propaganda. This is how one of our Chinese comrades describes the Kuo Min Tang Party before its reorganization last January:

“In China, we hardly ever find the National Party participating in the national movement, even when national feeling finds some measure of expression. Many instances could be cited in support of this statement. What part did the National Party of Kuo Min Tang play in the extensive student movement of 1919? What did it do in the fight against the Twenty-one Demands—the treaty violently extorted by Japan in 1915? Many instances may be cited to prove that the National Party was not an impelling, organizing and controlling force, whereas the student organizations, the merchants’ leagues, and the alliances of street traders and other middle class organizations, organized demonstrations protesting against the various humiliations imposed upon the country by the capitalist powers. As a matter of fact, the Kuo Min Tang Party cannot be regarded as a real political organization. I remember the epigram made by a well-known Northern militarist who said that there was no Kuo Min Tang in China, there was only a Sun Tang (a party of Sun-Yat-Sen).”

But since the reorganization of the party its character has undergone a real change. The program-manifesto of the Party after the Congress shows that it has undertaken wide political propaganda, the union of the masses and the leadership of their movements. The causes which led to the reorganization of Kuo Min Tang are the rather rapid industrialization of China and the differentiation of classes, which are reacting more and more upon the political life of the country. On the other hand, the growing strength of one group of the Northern militarists (the Chihli Group) at the expense of the others, also helped to strengthen the national movement in the North. Moreover, the growing strength of the Chihli clique, assisted by Anglo-American imperialism, impelled Sun Yat Sen and the Kuo Min Tang Party toward Soviet Russia. Finally, the wave of strikes which seized on the whole of China and assumed a very stormy character, led Sun and his party to adopt an active policy in defense of the toiling masses.

But when Kuo Min Tang began to define itself as a party of the national-revolutionary movement, a process of disintegration of the social basis of the party set in and a more active struggle was initiated against it by the imperialists and the Northern militarists.

The passage in the manifesto of Kuo Min Tang already mentioned, deals with the three principles of Kuo Min Tang —nationalism, democracy and State socialism—runs as follows:

“Kuo Min Tang cannot but devote its every effort to continuing the struggle for the emancipation of the Chinese people from the double yoke, while leaning for support on the wide masses of the peasantry, the workers, and intellectuals and the middle trading class. For each of these classes nationalism means the abolition of the yoke of foreign capitalism. While for the trading and industrial classes nationalism means escape from the foreign economic yoke, which is preventing the development of the economic forces of the country, for the toiling classes nationalism means escape from the agents of imperialism—the militarists and capitalists, both foreign and national, who are greedily exploiting their vital needs. For the masses of the population the whole duty in the fight for national emancipation lies in anti-militarism.

“The Party of Kuo Min Tang proves that where imperialism has been weakened as a result of the national struggle, the masses secure a better opportunity of developing and strengthening their organizations for the future struggle. Kuo Min Tang shows that its principle of nationalism implies a healthy anti-imperialist movement. For this purpose it must lend every effort to support the organizations of the masses of the population, thereby setting free the national energies. Only in the intimate contact between Kuo Min Tang and the masses of China lies the pledge of the future national independence of the country.”

“Under the conditions of contemporary society, so-called democracy becomes transformed into a system and machine for the oppression of the population by the bourgeoisie. The democracy of Kuo Min Tang is the government of the people by the whole people, and not merely by a minority. The democracy of Kuo Min Tang is to be regarded not from the point of view of the national rights of men but as a principle corresponding with the revolutionary needs of China at the present moment. Power belongs only to the citizens of the Republic, and it is obvious that power must not be given to the enemies of the Revolution. In other words, while those members of the population and those organizations which support the real struggle against imperialism enjoy every right and freedom, such freedom is in no case given to elements and organizations in China which are assisting the foreign imperialists or their agents, the Chinese militarists.”

“As regards the foreign loans concluded by China, such loans must be secured and redeemed in accordance with the capacity of the country to pay, without undermining at the same time its economic and political stability.

“Loans concluded by irresponsible governments, such as the one which has at present seized the national government in Peking, loans which serve not to improve the well-being of the country but to support and prolong militarist tyranny, or are used for bribery and private gain, will not be paid by the Chinese people.

“All powers and persons concerned who advance such loans are hereby warned of the risk they are running.”

It is obvious that by adopting such a program, Kuo Min Tang accelerated the exodus of the large merchant bourgeoisie and rich peasants from the national movement. At the same time it burned behind it the bridges by which it sometimes was connected with certain imperialists in order to fight others. And although since its reorganization it has by no means acted in either internal or in foreign policy according to the manifesto, nevertheless the declaration was enough to alarm the merchant bourgeoisie in all the towns of China. The bourgeoisie of Canton began to prepare to oppose Sun. As to the imperialists, and especially the British, who were most interested in the South of China—after the reorganization of Kuo Min Tang, they surrounded Canton with an atmosphere of false information, calumnies, and conspiracies, and finally initiated an armed offensive within the capital of the Kuo Min Tang Party.

What we learned had taken place at the end of August and the beginning of September—namely, that an uprising had taken place in Canton, led by the large Chinese merchant Chen-Lin-Pak, the comprador of a British bank in Shanghai, and that the British were preventing the suppression of the uprising and were threatening to bombard the town from British cruisers in Chinese waters—was a logical conclusion to the policy of the imperialists towards the Southern Government during the last year. The imperialists apparently expected a more successful issue to their action. Contrary to their expectations, Sun Yat Sen, far from giving way to the rising of the counter-revolutionary merchants and rich peasants, took a turn to the left, began to arm the workers and poor peasants, and finally broke with the wavering and treacherous right wing of Kuo Min Tang which was socially and politically connected with the merchants. The imperialists did not expect that the masses of the artisan and poor population of Canton and the peasant leagues organized by Kuo Min Tang to fight banditry, would stand solidly on the side of the Kuo Min Tang Government. From a military and strategic point of view, the present situation of Kuo Min Tang is very difficult. But there cannot be the slightest doubt that as a result of this struggle its authority and influence will increase considerably, even though it may be unable to retain its position in Canton. The fact that in face of the overwhelming superiority of the military forces of the imperialists, Kuo Min Tang offered war to the reactionary merchants, will make the Party the real center of the emancipation movement in China.

And if the events simultaneously going on in Northern and Central China bring a regrouping of forces in China not favorable to Anglo-American imperialism, the fight of Sun Yat Sen against the insurgent merchants and imperialists will assume national importance. But this will be the case only if the Chinese Communists and working class organizations are able to exert sufficient influence upon Kuo Min Tang to induce it to without fearing to fight unloose the forces of the poor populations of the towns and of the poor peasants.

The Situation in Northern China.

We describe the events now going on in Central and Northern China as an offensive of Anglo-American capitalism, unwillingly supported by the French and the Japanese, with the object of crushing the emancipation movement in China, checking the growing influence of Soviet Russia, and preparing the soil for a further invasion of China by American capital. The weapons used for the execution of these imperialist plans are the Chinese militarists belonging to the Chihli group, who attacked the military clique of the Fengtien Party and of the An-Hui group. This means war between the principal military forces in China. The fact that the immediate pretext for the struggle was the fight for the possession of Shanghai, points the paths which lead straight to imperialist interests. And in fact, the first demand made by the imperialists in the threatening notes addressed to the Chinese government, was a demand for the enlargement of the neutral zone around Shanghai to thirty miles, that is, an increase in the territory of the foreign concessionaires.

Owing to the war between the Chinese militarists, the question of increasing customs duties in favor of the Chinese government, as was promised at the Washington Conference, where America fought Japan under the pretext of defending China, has retired into the background. The war between the militarists instigated by the Anglo-American capitalists, is distracting the attention of the population from the anti-militarist struggle. The emancipation movement, which, since the recognition of Soviet Russia by the Central (Peking) government, had assumed tremendous proportions, is threatened with decline, since the war between WuPei-Fu and Chang-Tso-Ling is occupying the center of attention of the masses. At the same time, the militarization of the regions where the civil war is taking place is tying the hands of the worker and the student organizations, which are the centers of the anti-militarist movement in Northern China. On the other hand, the direct interference by the Peking government, headed by Tsao-Kun, in the fight between the militarists, will undoubtedly intensify the opposition of the masses against that Government and will start a new wave of sympathy in favor of Sun Yat Sen, who has refused to submit to the imperialists and is fighting their agents in Southern China.

Such an attitude will be only a strategic maneuver with the object of destroying the present relations of forces of the militarist groups in China which is creating a situation favorable for Anglo-American imperialism. The regrouping of forces in Northern and Central China, which would result from a victory over the Chihli clique, would for a time create a situation in which the Kuo Min Tang Party could spread the national emancipation movement thruout the whole of China with unprecedented rapidity.

Of course in the event of the defeat of their agents, the Chihli Party, the imperialists would attempt, and no doubt successfully, to place their stakes on the victors, Chang-TsoLing and the others. Nevertheless, in reaction to the previous situation, a tremendous amount of nationalist energy would be released for the struggle against imperialism.

In this struggle the Communist Party of China, both in the North and the South, must make clear to the Chinese masses the part being played by the imperialists and their tools, the Chinese militarists; they must call upon the workers and peasants to organize under the banner of the Communist Party and upon the national-revolutionary party of the Kuo Min Tang to assist the toiling masses in the creation of their class and economic organization.

The Workers Monthly began publishing in 1924 as a merger of the ‘Liberator’, the Trade Union Educational League magazine ‘Labor Herald’, and Friends of Soviet Russia’s monthly ‘Soviet Russia Pictorial’ as an explicitly Party publication. In 1927 Workers Monthly ceased and the Communist Party began publishing The Communist as its theoretical magazine. Editors included Earl Browder and Max Bedacht as the magazine continued the Liberator’s use of graphics and art.

PDF of full issue: https://www.marxists.org/history/usa/culture/pubs/wm/1925/v4n03-jan-1925.pdf