The Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike, 1925-1926 Hongkong Workers in an Anti-Imperialist Movement Robert JamesHorrocks Submitted in accordancewith the requirementsfor the degreeof PhD The University of Leeds Departmentof East Asian Studies October 1994 The candidateconfirms that the work submitted is his own and that appropriate credit has been given where referencehas been made to the work of others. 11 Abstract In this thesis, I study the Guangzhou-Hongkong strike of 1925-1926. My analysis differs from past studies' suggestions that the strike was a libertarian eruption of mass protest against British imperialism and the Hongkong Government, which, according to these studies, exploited and oppressed Chinese in Guangdong and Hongkong. I argue that a political party, the CCP, led, organised, and nurtured the strike. It centralised political power in its hands and tried to impose its revolutionary visions on those under its control. First, I describe how foreign trade enriched many people outside the state. I go on to describe how Chinese-run institutions governed Hongkong's increasingly settled non-elite Chinese population. I reject ideas that Hongkong's mixed-class unions exploited workers and suggest that revolutionaries failed to transform Hongkong society either before or during the strike. My thesis shows that the strike bureaucracy was an authoritarian power structure; the strike's unprecedented political demands reflected the CCP's revolutionary political platform, which was sometimes incompatible with the interests of Hongkong's unions. I suggestthat the revolutionary elite's goals were not identical to those of the unions it claimed to represent: Hongkong unions preserved their autonomy in the face of revolutionaries' attempts to control Hongkong workers. Other writers have concentrated on the actions of Chinese revolutionaries, Hongkong's Chinese elite, and the Hongkong Government during the strike; my approach is unique because I focus on Hongkong's smaller unions, who fought revolutionaries' attempts to impose their own conception of a "modern" society. Finally, I show that, although the strike leadership gained control over a strike bureaucracy and built a solid power base through alliances with union leaders, its mass support ebbed away. The strike's main policy, a boycott of Hongkong trade, created opposition to the strike from merchants, peasants, and workers, which opposition GMD politicians exploited to bring the strike to an end. iii Contents Title Page Abstract ii .............................................................................................. .. Contents iii ............................................................................................... Tables ...............................................................................................vii Notes Format on ...............................................................................................viii Introduction I Part 1 The Historical Context the Strike 4 of ............................................... Chapter 1 Approach to the Study the Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike 5 of ........ Theories 6 of revolution ....................................................................... Revolution, bureaucracy, 8 and modernisation ...................................... Class theory the II and cultural nexus of power ................................... Success, tragedy, 14 and misconception ............................................... Studies of Hongkong history and the Guangzhou-Hongkong 15 strike ............................................................................................... Conclusion 17 ...................................................................................... Chapter 2 Foreign Trade the Guangdong Economy 19 and .............................. Problems the "anti-imperialist" 20 of standpoint.................................... Foreign local 21 competition and products ........................................... The industry 24 successof private and small ports ................................ Opportunities for industry 26 peasanttrade and .................................... Trade the increasein local 28 and power .............................................. Guangdong's 30 economy..................................................................... Conclusion 31 ...................................................................................... Chapter 3 Hongkong Society Government 32 and ............................................. Theories Hongkong 33 of colonialism and society ................................ Hongkong's from the 1840s the 1920s 34 population to ........................ Chinese institutions 37 elite government ............................................... Hongkong community and the growth of subregionalassociations... 40 iv The division betweenHongkong's elite and non-elite populations, and CCP to Hongkong'sChinese 42 revolutionaries'opposition elite .... Conclusion 49 ...................................................................................... Chapter 4 Hongkong Workers Unions 51 and ................................................... Hongkong 52 workers.......................................................................... Internal Hongkong in the 1920s 55 organisationof unions .................... Subregionalinfluences in the 59 unions ................................................ Hongkongs "modem" 60 unions .......................................................... Labour consciousnessand political links to Chinese 68 revolutionaries................................................................................. Conclusion 75 ...................................................................................... Chapter 5 Hongkong Social Movements 76 ....................................................... Theories in Hongkong 77 of non-elite political protest .......................... Increased "modern" 78 strike activity, poverty, and strikes ................... The Guangzhou-Hongkong 82 strike: a political strike ......................... Small-scale interests 86 organisations' and statepower ......................... Revolutionaries 93 and massmovements .............................................. Conclusion 100 .................................................................................... Part 2 The Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike 102 .............................................. Chapter 6 The Outbreak the Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike 103 of .................. An to the May Thirtieth Incident 104 organisedresponse ..................... Radical union leaders,hesitant workers: Hongkong mechanics to 107 refuse strike .............................................. ..................... The the the 110 outbreak of strike: seamenstop work .......................... The in Hongkong 115 student strike ..................................................... Triads the 117 and strike ...................................................................... Leadership the 119 of strike ................................................................. Conclusion 121 .................................................................................... Chapter 7 The Strike Bureaucracy 123 .............................................................. Political in Guangzhou ] 24 groups ....................................................... CCP the bureaucracy ] 26 control and strike ......................................... Hongkong leaders central CCP 1.13 union resist control ....................... CCP leaders 135 conflict with union ..................................................... V Compromise 143 and consolidation...................................................... Conclusion 146 .................................................................................... Chapter 8 Mass Education, Propaganda, and Gongren zhi lu: Communication between Revolutionaries Strikers 147 and ............ Politics in China 148 and education ...................................................... Education bureaucracy 150 .................................................................. Popularising 152 educationor grooming officials? ................................ The Strike Committee 156 and propagandaschools .............................. CCP control of education and Hongkong unions' autonomy........... 157 The Gongren lu 162 strike's newspaper: zhi ......................................... Propaganda,bureaucracy, 166 and class alliances................................. Conclusion 169 .................................................................................... Chapter 9 The Guangzhou-Hongkong Strike's Trade-Union Unification Movement 172 .................................................................................... Aims the trade-union 173 of unification movement ............................... The trade-union 175 unification movement........................................... The secondstrike and the Hongkong GeneralTrade Union............ 180 Patriotic 186 organisation..................................................................... CCP political power and trade unions in Guangdong'ssubregions.. 187 Freedom the 189 of associationand strike ............................................ Conclusion 193 .................................................................................... Chapter 10 The End of the Strike and Boycott: Opposition in Hongkong Guangdong 194 and ........................................................................... Past the