Copyright by Linlin Wang 2012 The Dissertation Committee for Linlin Wang Certifies that this is the approved version of the following dissertation: ANOTHER WAY OUT: THE WARTIME COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN JIANGSU, 1937-1945 Committee: Huaiyin Li, Supervisor Sung-Sheng Yvonne Chang Mark Metzler Charters Wynn Margherita Zanasi ANOTHER WAY OUT: THE WARTIME COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN JIANGSU, 1937-1945 by Linlin Wang, B.A.; M.A. Dissertation Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The University of Texas at Austin in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The University of Texas at Austin May 2012 Dedication To Feng, Anthony, and my parents with love Acknowledgements I must take the opportunity to express my gratitude to the people who have helped at various stages of this project. First and foremost, Huaiyin Li, my supervisor, offered advice on numerous occasions on the formation of this dissertation and provided professional guidance in the development of my career at the University of Texas. I have been so fortunate to have such a kind, considerate and erudite mentor throughout my graduate study. I also owe a sincere debt to Margherita Zanasi, my master supervisor, who has continued to share with me her wisdom on my research and writing after moving to Louisiana State University. Mark Metzler has always been supportive and helpful to this project and his comprehensive knowledge about Japan has enabled me to deepen my understandings of this project as well as the modern history of China. Meanwhile, I should thank Edward Rhoads, my first mentor upon arrival in the States. He has never stopped offering advice, both professionally and personally, even when enjoying his emeritus life in New York. Last but not least, Charters Wynn, Sung-sheng Yvonne Chang and Roger Hart have been gracious in agreeing to serve on my dissertation committee. I am indebted to them for their time and patience. My research would not have been completed without the generous support from the Department of History and awards of History Departmental Fellowship, Ward Endowed Fellowship and University Continuing Fellowship. These fellowships allowed me to pursue archival research in Jiangsu Provincial Archive and Shanghai Library in v mainland China, and Academia Historica and Institute of Modern History, Academia Sinica in Taiwan. While working in Taipei, the faculty members of Academic Sinica, Yung-fa Chen, Ko-wu Huang, Li Chang, Peter Zarrow, Yao-huang Chen, and Yen-lin Chung, have lent me intellectual thoughts on this project. I am especially grateful to Prof. Chen Yung-fa, who, as an encyclopedic expert of history of the Chinese Communist Party, has offered valuable suggestions and directions. Meanwhile, Jingping Wu and Guangyao Jin at Fudan University initially inspired me to work on this topic. My acknowledgement also goes to Marilyn Lehman and Jacqueline Jones. Without their help I would have never finished the degree in a timely manner this spring. Finally, I consider myself extremely fortunate to have a family who, without hesitation, encourages me to pursue my career aspirations, even if they have had to endure my frequent absence as a daughter and wife in the past decade. My parents, husband and son have served as a constant source of inspiration and support, always motivating me to press on when I felt desperate or exhausted for my research and writing. vi ANOTHER WAY OUT: THE WARTIME COMMUNIST MOVEMENT IN JIANGSU, 1937-1945 Linlin Wang, Ph.D The University of Texas at Austin, 2012 Supervisor: Huaiyin Li This dissertation examines the survival and expansion strategies of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by focusing on its organization and mobilization activities during the War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945). I argue that the Communist forces quickly expanded during the wartime not merely because the War provided an opportunity to avoid the Guomingdang (GMD)’s intensive military aggression and legitimately expand itself throughout China. More importantly, it also allowed the CCP to develop a unique political culture with a grasp on local knowledge during the years under investigation. This cultural climate worked to rejuvenate itself through organizational consolidation and the rebuilding of political identity. Together, these factors accounted for the dramatic expansion of the CCP’s membership and military forces, which prepared the Party for its takeover of the country after the Japanese surrender. The main body of this dissertation is composed of five thematic chapters. Chapter two explores the CCP’s penetration into local society through mass resistance vii associations and political renovation of existing power structures. Chapter three investigates Communist propaganda activities, the success of which laid in coordination with the Party’s follow-up organizational arrangements. The next chapter examines the Communist educational institutions as a channel of mass mobilization that further reinforced its penetration into various social groups. Chapter five uses Grain Tax, conscription and mobilization of anti-pacification campaign, all of which required personal sacrifice from the masses, as three instances that exemplified the Party’s controllability over local communities. Finally, chapter six focuses on its strategies to contain undesirable tendencies of local cadres and strengthen ideological consensus within the Party. viii Table of Contents Table of Contents ................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ......................................................................................................... xi List of Illustrations ................................................................................................ xii Note of Chinese Names and Terms ..................................................................... xiii Chapter One Introduction .....................................................................................1 Macro-history and the Search of a Decisive Reason ......................................5 Base Area Studies: between Power Politics and Social Revolution ...............9 “Local Knowledge” As the Major Approach ................................................15 Base Areas in Jiangsu Province ....................................................................20 Chapter Two Penetrating Local Society: from Economic to Political Struggle28 Establishing the Peasant Resistance Association ..........................................32 Focusing on Economic Redistribution: Rent Reduction and Grain Borrowing ..............................................................................................................38 Residency Council—a Placebo for the Local Gentry ...................................52 Extending Connection in the Secret Societies: Parochial Mobilization .......60 Back to Politics: the New Township Renovation .........................................66 The Puzzle of the Triangle Relationship: the Government, the Party and the Mass Associations ................................................................................78 Chapter Three Organizing Propaganda ...............................................................86 What is Propaganda?.....................................................................................89 A Mass Line in Newspaper Publication........................................................95 Stage Play Associations: Itinerant Propaganda Stage .................................103 Reward and Punishment: Assimilation of Collaborationist Personnel .......119 Conclusion ..................................................................................................129 Chapter Four Education: Another Channel of Mass Mobilization .................133 Conventional Schooling System .................................................................134 ix The Educator and the Educated ..................................................................141 Adult Education ..........................................................................................156 Conclusion ..................................................................................................164 Chapter Five In the Name of Resistance: Taxation, Conscription, and Mass Mobilization in the Base Areas ...................................................................169 Grain Tax Collection: the Emergence of a Growing State Power ..............171 The Party’s Strategies of Mobilization .......................................................177 Responses and Reaction at Local Level ......................................................184 Local Militia Recruitment: Parochial Mobilization ....................................187 Conscription for Regular Forces .................................................................195 Kongshi Qingye—During the Anti-pacification Campaign ........................213 Pre-campaign Mobilization ................................................................216 The Process of the Anti-mopping-up Campaign ...............................219 After the Anti-mopping-up Campaign ...............................................226 Conclusion ..................................................................................................229 Chapter Six Self Rejuvenation: Reinforcing Internal Consensus and Centralization ..............................................................................................232 The CCP Local Recruitment