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Articles

Fighting for the leadership of the Chinese Revolution: KMT delegates’ three visits to Moscow

Pages 218-239 | Published online: 18 Nov 2013
 

Abstract

Between 1923 and 1927, the KMT dispatched three delegations to negotiate with the Comintern, the first led by Chiang Kai-shek, the second led by Hu Hanmin, and the third led by Shao Lizi. During his visit, Chiang Kai-shek talked with the Comintern about the KMT’s interpretation of Sun Yat-sen’s Three Principles of the People in its First National Congress proclamation and reached an agreement regarding Soviet Russia’s aid to the KMT in building a party-army, yet Moscow’s Outer Mongolia policy had a negative impact on Chiang’s future relationship with the Soviet Russia. Hu Hanmin’s mission was to seek Comintern advice on how to draft the KMT platform for its Second National Congress and to apply for KMT membership in the Comintern, or to win a status at least equal to that of the CCP. However, what he achieved was only the acceptance of the KMT as a sympathizer instead of a Comintern member. The delegation led by Shao Lizi aimed at transmitting Chiang Kai-shek’s assertions that the KMT must hold exclusive leading authority in China’s National Revolution and that the CCP should not strive for leadership or attempt to build its own army. The three delegations’ negotiations with the Comintern all focused on whether China should implement the Three Principles of the People or Soviet-style Communism and on which party should lead the Chinese revolution.

Glossary
Cai Hesen 蔡和森=
Chenbao 《晨报》=
danggang 党纲=
dangwai wu dang, dangnei wu pai 党外无党,党内无派=
Hu Hanmin 胡汉民=
Jiang Kanghu 江亢虎=
Li Dazhao 李大钊=
Liao Zhongkai 廖仲恺=
Qianjin bao 《前进报》=
Qu Qiubai 瞿秋白=
Shao Lizi 邵力子=
Shen Dingyi 沈定一=
Shishi xinbao 《时事新报》=
Tan Pingshan 谭平山=
Wang Dengyun 王登云=
Wang Jingwei 汪精卫=
Xishan huiyi pai 西山会议派=
Yu Songhua 俞颂华=
Yuan Qingyun 袁庆云=
Zhang Guotao 张国焘=
Zhang Qiubai 张秋白=
Zhang Tailei 张太雷=
Zhang Zuolin 张作霖=
Zhao Shiyan 赵世炎=
Zhu Hezhong 朱和中=

Notes

1 Representative studies of Taiwan scholars include Li Yunhan, Cong ronggong dao qingdang [From the Incorporation of the Communists to their Purge] (Taipei: Zhonghua xueshu zhuzuo jiangzhu weiyuanhui, 1966), and Jiang Yongjing, Baoluoting yu Wuhan zhengquan [Borodin and the Wuhan Government] (Taipei: Zhuanji wenxue chubanshe, 1967).

2  Many Russian historians have stopped using the term “October Revolution” and instead call it a “coup” staged by the Bolsheviks. See A. Zubov, Istoriya Rossii XX veka (Moscow: AST Astrel, 2009), 460.

3 Yang Kuisong, Guomingdang de “liangong” yu “fangong” [The KMT’s Collaboration and Break with the Chinese Communist Party] (Beijing: Shehui kexue wenxian chubanshe, 2008); Li Yuzhen, Guomindang yu gongchanguoji, 1919–1927 [The KMT and the Comintern, 19191927] (Beijing: Renmin chubanshe, 2012).

4 Brandt Conard, Stalin’s Failure in China 1924–1927 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1958).

5 Russian Center for Preservation and Study of Modern History Records (RCHIDNI), Institute Dal’nevo Vostoka, Rossiiskoi Akademii Nauk, Vostochno-Asiatskii seminar Svobodnovo Universiteta Berlina, VKP(b), Comintern i Kitai dokumenty [Russian Communist Party (Bolsheviks), Comintern and China], vols. 1–3 (Moscow: Buklet, 1994, 1997, 1999), vols. 4–5 (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 2003, 2007). The first volume was translated into Chinese by Li Yuzhen, titled Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo [The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), the Comintern, and China] (Taipei: Dongda tushu gongsi, 1997). G.М. Adibekov, К.М. Аnderson, and М.М Shiriniya, Politburo tsentral’novo komiteta RKP-VKP(b) i Komintern 1919–1943 [Politburo of the Central Committee RKP-VKP(b) and Comintern 1919–1943] (Moscow:ROSSPEN, 2004); F. Firsov, Secretnie kodi istorii Kominterna [Secret codes of the Comintern] (Moscow: KRAFT, 2007); А.I.Каrtunova, Perepiska I.V. Stalina i G. V. Chicherina s polpredom SSSR v Kitae L.M. Karakhanom [Correspondence between I. V. Stalin, G. V. Chicherina and the Representative of SSSR in China L. M. Karakhanom] (Moscow:Natalis, 2008).

6 Adibekov, Anderson, and Shiriniya, Politburo tsentral’novo komiteta RKP-VKP(b) i Komintern 1919–1943, 5.

7 See Li Yuzhen, “Dang’an jizai de sulian jihuang” [The Soviet Union’s Famine as Recorded in Russian Archives], Yanhuang chunqiu, vol. 1 (2013): 88–89.

8 Li Yuzhen, Guomindang yu gongchanguoji, 141–59.

9 Deng Jiayan, “Mading ye zongtong shiji” [Veritable Records of Maring’s Meeting with Sun Yat-sen], in Geming wenxian [Archival Materials of the Revolution], ed. Luo Jialun, vol. 9 (Taipei: Zhongguo guomindang zhongyang weiyuanhui dangshi shiliao bianzuan weiyuanhui, 1955), 203–7.

10 PGASPI [Russian State Archive of socio-political History], F. 514, OP.1, D. 144, L.171.

11 The earliest Chinese visitors to Soviet Russia included Yu Songhua and Qu Qiubai, who went with open identities as journalists of Current Affairs (Shishi xinbao) and Morning News (Chenbao). Later Jiang Kanghu followed suit. In Shanghai, the Foreign Language School co-founded by Russians never stopped preparing students for studying in Russia. In 1921, some Chinese young people enrolled in Moscow’s Toilers of the East University after receiving language training. See Li Yuzhen, Guomindang yu gongchanguoji, 437.

12 This was a large delegation, led by Zhang Guotao, and composed of members of both the CCP and the KMT, as well as other social activists. See Li Yuzhen, Guomindang yu gongchanguoji, 74–96.

13 “Elder sister” was a metaphor implying familial warmth. See Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 232.

14 Ibid., 271–72.

15 Politburo tsentral’novo komiteta RKP-VKP(b) I Komintern 1919–1943, 185.

16 Ibid., 202.

17 Ibid., 192.

18 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 256.

19 Zhang Guotao, “Haishi zanzhu xin menggu ba” [Let’s Just Assist the New Mongolia], Xiangdao zhoubao [Guide Weekly], no. 8 (November 4, 1922): 68.

20 (Gao) Junyu, “Guoren duiyu menggu wenti yingchi de taidu” [The Chinese People’s Correct Attitude towards the Mongolian Question], Xiangdao zhoubao, no. 3 (September 27, 1922): 20.

21 Chiang was later reassured by Sun on the handling of this issue. See Mao Sicheng, Minguo shiwu nian yiqian zhi Jiang Jieshi xiansheng [Mr. Chiang Kai-shek Prior to 1926] (Shanghai, 1937), vol. 5, 60–62.

22 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 116.

23 Mao, Minguo shiwu nian yiqian zhi Jiang Jieshi xiansheng, vol. 5, 58.

24 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 270.

25 Zhongguo shehui kexueyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo fanyishi [Translating Office of Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences], trans., Gongchanguoji youguan zhongguo geming de wenxian ziliao [Comintern’s Documentary Source Materials Concerning the Chinese Revolution], vol. 1 (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 1981), 81–83.

26 Guangdongsheng shehui kexueyuan lishi yanjiushi [Institute of History, Guangdong Academy of Social Sciences] et al, eds., Sun Zhongshan quanji [Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen], vol. 7 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju, 1985), 4.

27 The Joint Statement of Dr. Sun Yatsen and Russian Envoy and Plenipotentiary to China A.A. Joffe (Shanghai: China Press, January 27, 1923), 1.

28 Lenin, “Demokratiya i narodnichestvo v Kitae” [Chinese Democracy and Populism]. It was first published on July 15, 1912 in Nevskaya zvezda.

29 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 378.

30 Ibid., 256.

31 Ibid., 241.

32 Ibid., 86.

33 Mo Ren, Shiren gemingjia—Hu Hanmin zhuan [Poet-Revolutionary: Biography of Hu Hanmin] (Taipei: Jindai zhongguo chubanshe, 1978), 247.

34 Wu Xiangxiang, “Hu Hanmin xiansheng nianpu gao” [Draft Chronology of Mr. Hu Hanmin], in Zhongguo xiandaishi congkan [Serial of Modern Chinese History], ed. Wu Xiangxiang (Taipei: Zhengzhong shudian, 1960), vol. 3, 218.

35 Although “party platform” (danggang) was the term used by Hu Hanmin and Zhu Hezhong, the Second Party Congress of the KMT did not use this term. To be precise, both Hu and Zhu used danggang to refer to the concluding portion of the KMT Second National Congress Proclamation, which had the character of a political platform. See Rong Mengyuan and Sun Caixia, eds., Zhongguo guomindang lici daibiao dahui ji zhongyang quanhui ziliao [Source Materials of All KMT National Congresses and Plenums] (Beijing: Guangming ribao chubanshe, 1989), vol. 1, 15.

36 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 635.

37 Forward (Qianjin bao), a weekly publication, was founded against the background of China’s anti-imperialist May Thirtieth Movement in 1925. Chinese residing in Russia were willing to support the movement by setting up their own organization. Although this plan did not bear fruit, the concerned Chinese in Russia did succeed in publishing several issues of their mouthpiece journal, one of which appeared on 14 November 1925, funded by the Soviet Union Association for Noninterference in China. For details, see Yu Minling, “Chuban zhuiyu” [A Few Words about the Publication], which was written for the reprinting of Forward, in Zhongyang yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo [Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei] ed., Shiliao congkan [Serial of Historical Source Materials], vol. 29 (Taipei: Zhongyang yanjiuyuan jindaishi yanjiusuo, 1996), no page number.

38 Hu Hanmin, “Guomindang de zhenjie” [The True Meaning of the Chinese Nationalist Party], Qianjin bao, no. 4 (8 January 1926), 14.

39 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 645.

40 Zhu Hezhong, “Yu Hu Hanmin xiansheng you e bageyue zhi huixiang” [Reflecting on the Eight-Month Journey in Russia with Mr. Hu Hanmin], in Zhongguo xiandaishi congkan, vol. 3, 382–83.

41 Hu Hanmin, “Sanmin zhuyi de jieshi (1927nian 8yue 17ri dui Jinling daxue xuesheng yanjiangci)” [An Interpretation of the Three Principles of the People: A Speech Delivered to Jinling University Students on 17 August 1927], in Hu Hanmin xiansheng mingzhu ji [The Works of Mr. Hu Hanmin], eds. Yuan Qingping and Li Jianping (Nanjing: Junshi xinwenshe, 1936), vol. 1, 286–87.

42 VKP (b), Komintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 642.

43 Rong and Sun, Zhongguo guomindang lici daibiao dahui ji zhongyang quanhui ziliao, vol. 1, 115.

44 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 643.

45 Ibid., 644.

46 Ibid., 645.

47 Wu, “Hu Hanmin xiansheng nianpu gao”, 227.

48 Li Yuzhen, Liangong, gongchanguoji yu zhongguo, 639.

49 Ibid., 639.

50 VKP (b), Komintern i Kutai, vol. 2-A, 31.

51 Hu Hanmin, “Minzu guoji yu disan guoji” [The International Community of Nations and the Third Comintern], in Zhongguo xiandai shi congkan [Materials on the Contemporary Chinese History], ed. Wu Xiangxiang (Taipei: Zhengzhong shudian, 1960), vol. 4, 1400.

52 For the full text of the letter, see VKP (b), Kuomintern i Kitai, vol. 2-A, 131–32.

53 “Wei gaizao Guangdong daxue tongyi geming sixiang” [Unifying Revolutionary Thought for the Sake of Reforming Guangdong University], “Wei shezhi gaodeng junshi jiaoyu yangcheng geming gaodeng junshi rencai” [Cultivating Advanced Revolutionary Military Officers to Establish Advanced Military Education], RGASPI, F. 558, OP. 11, D. 822, L.59–60.

54 Hu Hanmin, “Su’e shiyue geming ba zhounian jinian” [Commemorating the Eighth Anniversary of Soviet Russia’s October Revolution], Qianjin bao, no. 4 (1926), 13.

55 Examples of Hu’s thirteen articles published in Forward include “Hu Hanmin tongzhi gei ben bao de yifeng xin” [Comrade Hu Hanmin’s Letter to the Editors], no. 1 (1925); and “Huaqiao yu geming” [Overseas Chinese and Revolution], no. 3 (1926).

56 Zhu Hezhong, “Yu Hu Hanmin xiansheng you e bageyue zhi huixiang,” 382.

57 Ibid., 383, 384.

58 Wu, “Hu Hanmin xiansheng nianpu gao”, 376–77.

59 VKP (b), Komintern i Kitai, vol. 2-A, 153.

60 VKP (b), Komintern i Kitai, vol. 2-A, 420.

61 Ibid., 420.

62 Ibid., 432–33.

63 Ibid., 434.

64 International Land Research Institute’s letter to Tan Pingshan, dated March 23, 1927. See VKP (b), Komintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 647.

65 RGASPI,F. 535,OP. 1,D. 82,L. 85, 86; N. Мамаеvа, Коmintern i КMT (Moscow: ROSSPEN, 1999), 295.

66 RGASPI,F. 535,OP. 1,D. 82,L. 98—105; N. Мамаеvа, Коmintern i КMT, 295.

67 VKP(b), Коmintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 608–609, 618.

68 VKP(b), Коmintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 659.

69 For Chiang Kai-shek’s conversation with Voitinskii, see VKP(b), Коmintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 630–31.

70 A.V. Pantsov, Tainaya istoriya sovetsko-kitaiskih otnoshenii (Moscow: Muravei Gaid, 2001), illustration, no page number.

71 VKP(b), Коmintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 695.

72 Mao, Minguo shiwu nian yiqian zhi Jiang Jieshi xiansheng, vol. 6, 26–29.

73 Chiang Kai-shek, Su’e zai zhongguo [Soviet Russia in China] (Taipei: Zhongyang wenwu gongyingshe, 1957), 27.

74 Wu, “Hu Hanmin xiansheng nianpu gao”, 377.

75 Rosa Luxemburg: Russkaya tragediya, Izbrannei statii, rechi i pis’ma, Institut Vseobchei istorii Rossiiskaya Akademiya: Istoriia Kommunisticheskovo Internatsionala—dokumental’nei ocherki (Moscow: Nauka, 1991), 30–31.

76 Jiang Zhongzheng zongtong dang’an, Shilue gaoben [Archives of President Chiang Kai-shek, the Chronological Events] (Taipei: Academia Historica, 2003), vol. 1, 310.

77 Ibid., 300.

78 Ibid., 320, 321.

79 Ibid., 333, 334.

80 VKP(b) ,Коmintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 849.

81 Politburo tsentral’novo komiteta RKP-VKP(b) i Komintern 1919–1943, 812.

82 Editor’s Introduction to VKP(b), Коmintern i Kitai, vol. 2-B, 676–77.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yuzhen LI

LI Yuzhen is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. She graduated from the Department of Russian Language and Literature of Beijing Foreign Studies University in 1959 and started teaching at the University. In 1963, she began to teach in the Department of Russian Language at Capital University, and in 1979 she was transferred to the Institute of Modern History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, to translate historical source materials and to pursue research on Sino-Soviet relations and the relationship between the Comintern and China. She has published Sun Yat-sen and the Comintern (Taipei: Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica, 1996) and The Kuomintang and the Comintern (Beijing: People’s Publishing House, 2012), and she has translated a sourcebook, The CPSU, the Comintern, and China (Taipei: Dongda Book Company, 1997).

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