University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor. Michigan
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
68-1 4 ,9 6 5 ESPOSITO, Bruce John, 1941- THE COMINTERN AND THE CANTON COMMUNE. The American University, Ph. D ., 1968 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor. Michigan f'' Copyright by BRUCE JOHN ESPOSITO 1968 THE COMINTERN AND THE CANTON COMMtWE by Bruce John Esposito Submitted to the Faculty of the School of International Service of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Far East Area Studies Signatures of Committee: Chairman? JX uuce* ifr Deanof the Semfol' Date: 1 0 AMERICAN UN1VERSIT' 1968 LIBRARY School of International Service JUN 51968 The American University Washington, D.C. WASHINGTON. D. C TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION..................................................................................................1 I I . PRELUDE TO THE CANTON COMMUNE: CHINA 1911-1927 .... 5 I H . COMINTERN POLICY TOWARD CHINA 1 9 1 9 -1 9 2 9...............................................19 IV. THE CRUCIAL TEARS: 1926-1927 55 V. THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN KWANGTUNG...............................................88 VI. BTANGTUNG IN 1927: AN ECONOMIC S U R V E Y ............................................ 109 V H . DECISION FOR THE CANTON U P R I S I N G .................................................... 137 7 m . THE CANTON COMMONS ..................................................................................... 199 IX. MILITARY APPRAISAL OF THE CANTON CO M M U N E.................................... 176 X. RAMIFICATIONS OF THE CANTON COMMUNE OUTSIDE CHINA............................................................................................. 196 XI. RAMIFICATIONS OF THE CANTON COMMUNE INSIDE C H IN A ............................................................................................. 219 X II. CONCLUSIONS......................................................................................................23U SEU3CTED BIBLIOGRAPHY..............................................................................................237 APPENDIX A. Dramatis Personae: Communists in the Canton Soviet Government ..................................................................... 292 APPENDIX B. Map of K w angtung............................................................................. 266 CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION The Canton Commune of December, 1927 was a very abort, very violent, but hardly spontaneous mass uprising. For what this communist fiasco lacked in duration and success, it more than compensated to the extent that it helped to crystallize the development of communist revolutionary policy in China which remains to this day. Infrequent references to the abortive u p r is in g do manage to fin d their way into the contemporary press, indicating that the uprising attem pt a t Canton re ta in s an honored place in the Chinese Communist interpretation of history. A popular news magazine recently featured photographs of dedicated Cantonese workers frolicking on their day off in the "Memorial Park to the Martyrs of the Canton Commune Uprising."'*' A Japanese news correspondent traveling in Canton noted among other graffiti of the Cultural Revolution that the name of Teh Chlen-ying, an activist in the 1927 Commune, had been erased on the gate leading to 2 the "Memorial Park" —an indication of the ephemeral nature of political fortune in Communist China for those who find themselves out of step with the current "line." Those who planned and carried out the Canton Uprising were ~*Tlme, May 20, 1966, pp. 38-1*0. 2 Sankel Shimbun, October 8 , 1967. 9 2 d e fin ite ly in step w ith the tune being drummed out by Communist In te r national (Comintern) policy makers in Moscow in late 1927. Their only fault was that they failed. Partially as a result of this failure, the Comintern changed the cadence of the revolutionary march. The exact nature of the role the Comintern took in the event in Canton is embroiled in historical controversy. Trotsky and others who formed the Russian Opposition against Stalin were vehement in their accusation that the Comintern under Stalin was directly Involved in "staging" all facets of the Canton Commune. On the other hand, a recent claim has been made that the uprising was nothing more than an event undertaken by local communists without benefit of permission from either 3 the Chinese Communist Party or the Comintern. This dissertation traces Comintern policy toward China to deter mine the doctrinal background of the Commune and its implications for policy both inside and outside of China. A search for newly-available sources, as well as a re-examination of other historical materials, strongly indicates that the Canton Commune was a direct outgrowth of specific Comintern involvement in China in 1927* This is not to claim th a t S ta lin e x p lic itly ordered the u p risin g fo r th a t December day. I t is the contention of this dissertation that the Commune was an attempt by communist lead ers in Kwangtung Province to comply w ith p o licy directives clearly set forth by the Comintern prior to December, 1927. Hsiao Tso-liang, "Chinese Communism and the Canton Soviet of 1927," China Quarterly, No. 30 (April-June, 1967), pp. U9-78. Stalin's destruction of the Russian Opposition had already been accomplished by the time of the Canton Commune, and its occurrence at approximately the same time as the formal expulsion of Trotsky and other Opposition members from the Russian Party was only coincidental. The Commune itself is examined against the background of the domestic political and economic climate in China, and particularly in Canton, in 1927» The failure of the uprising is appraised in light of communist insurrection policy and uprising manuals current to the period, and by analysis of contemporary communist criticism of the u p risin g . The ramifications of the Commune extended greatly beyond its three-day tenure. The reverberations of the uprising affected the Nationalist Government's diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, as well as renewing the vigor of anti-communist feeling in the Kuomintang ranks. It also had far-reaching effects on the Chinese Communist Party and ironically helped to stabilize Kuomintang internal politics. The dissertation has benefited from the valuable documentary c o llec tio n s on the Communist In te rn a tio n a l and Chinese Communism a t the Hoover Institution and the New Tork Public Library. Some new u historical sources in Chinese and the unique Jay C. Huston collection kjay c. Huston was Acting Consul in charge of the U.S. Consulate in Canton during the latter part of 1927* Consul Huston had a very active interest in communism and secured much material on this subject during his residence in China. This material includes photographs of the Canton Uprising, various personal effects of the Russian Vice-Consul Hassis killed during the revolt, and actual Hung-ch'i (Red Flag) handbills distributed during the insurrection. from the Hoover Institution are also utilized. It is the intent of this dissertation to accept the challenge of V. Lominadze, a Comintern official assigned to China in 1927, that "the Canton rising still awaits its historian."^ '’V. Lominadze, "The Anniversary of the Canton Rising," The Communist In te rn a tio n a l, Vol. VI, No. 5 (February 1, 1929), p . 135* CHAPTER I I PRELUDE TO THE CANTOR COMMUNE: CHINA 1911-1927 The history of China in the period from the Revolution to the end of 1927 w ill be remembered as one in which rival factions struggled to catch the reins of power. This internecine warfare provided the backdrop for the events which led to the Canton Commune. The October 10, 1911 Revolution dates the beginning of the Min-kuo or Republican period of modern Chinese history. The attempt to establish and maintain a genuinely unified republican form of government was fraught with great difficulty. The President of the new Republic, Yuan Shih-k'ai, almost immediately sought to bypass the Provisional National Assembly established after the abdication of the last Manchu Emperor. Yuan invested the provincial military leaders with posts as m ilitary governors or tu-tus. In exchange for their semi-autonomous positions, the various tu-tus were expected to maintain themselves without too stringent demands on the Central Government for either military or civilian expenses. The practical effect of this situation was the further deepening of regionalism in China, which had initially taken hold during the Taiping Rebellion . 1 With the death of Yuan in ^Fran* Michael, "State and Society in Nineteenth Century China," World Politics, Vol. VII, No. 3 (April, 1955), pp. Iil9-U33; Franz Michael, "Introduction: Regionalism in Nineteenth Century China," in Stanley Spector, Li Hung-chang and the Huai Army (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 196U), pp. xxi-xliii for a discussion of nineteenth century region alism. For a discussion of the Manchu military establishment on the eve of the Revolution, see Ralph L. Powell, Rise of toe Chinese Military Power 189^-1912 (P rinceton: Princeton U niversity P ress, i9l>8)« passim. 6 1916, the nation embarked on a civil war which would last a decade. Worth China: 1916-1926 In 1916 Li Tuan-hung was elected President of the Republic, and he attempted to help Parliament reassert its authority in the face of the warlords. Li's atten|t failed, and in June of 1917 he was forced to issue an edict dissolving the Parliament. In the decade following, three different cliques of warlords struggled for control of