Mya Than Tint - Mao Zedong and the Chinese Revolution

The Great Betrayal The Chinese Communist Party-led Federation of Trade Unions had abandoned the workers in Guangzhou. In the spring of 1927, it had abandoned the workers in Guhan. The Federation urged that the workers would make sacrifices for the revolution. The revolutionary government was threatened from all sides, so the Federation demanded that "the workers work from 13 to 17 hours a day." The enactment of the Child Labor Law was postponed. . . "

This was the League's demand due to pressure from the "left" Kuomintang capitalists and the economic crisis of the national government.

On May 24, 1927, Chiang Kai-shek captured Nanjing and declared it the capital. Chiang Kai-shek did not want to attack Shanghai yet, but deliberately advanced slowly. He did not want to capture Shanghai, the capital of the "imperialist system". He deliberately delayed. In October 1926, thousands of workers in Shanghai rose up in protest against the Shanghai warlord Sun Chunfang. In February 1927, 500,000 Shanghai workers led by Zhou Enlai went on strike. However, the Shanghai branch of the Workers' Federation led by Lili San opposed the strike, saying that the main focus should be on "unity within the united front" according to the Chiang Kai-shek method. At that time, the leaders of the Kuomintang “trade union” were also urging the workers to welcome the “northern march” led by Chiang Kai-shek. - The Central Committee did not issue any instructions regarding the capture of Shanghai. However, Chu En-lai conducted joint military training with the Kuomintang. The commander of the city garrison in Wukai was prepared to surrender to Chiang Kai-shek rather than to Chu En-lai. However, Chu En-lai took control of the city. On the evening of March 20, Chu En-lai and the workers captured the police headquarters, so Chiang Kai-shek’s troops could not enter the city. The Communists had the upper hand by taking Shanghai first. - The workers occupied Shanghai for three weeks. The Communists did not touch the civilian areas. Rumors spread that the Kuomintang and the Communists had broken up. However, Chen Tu Shu denied the rumors.

In March, Wang Chengwei returned from France via Russia. He held talks with the Russian authorities. Chen Tushu went to Shanghai and met with Wang Cheng. On April 6, he issued a joint statement with Wang Cheng , declaring that the Wuhan Kuomintang government and the Chinese Communist Party “have not broken the unity.” He denounced the rumors that the Kuomintang-Communist split had occurred. Wang Chengwei met with Chiang Kai-shek on the same day. In this way, they tried to reconcile and unite the Kuomintang-Communist. However, the active workers’ leaders were already disappointed with the Kuomintang-Communist “unity.”

Meanwhile, Chiang Kai-shek's men were in Shanghai negotiating with foreigners, Chinese conglomerates, and foreign bankers. They presented Chiang Kai-shek with $5 million in cash. On April 3, Chiang Kai-shek met with his old friends, the leaders of the secret societies. He then negotiated with foreign consuls. Truckloads of weapons were brought in from foreign colonies and distributed to the secret societies. They also provided support. .

On April 12, the Communists and the Kuomintang reportedly held talks in the spirit of “unity and friendship,” but a secret gang of heavily armed thugs captured and killed the Communist workers’ strike force. On April 14, Chiang Kai-shek’s troops, who had been waiting outside the city, entered the city and shot all who were suspicious. Thousands of workers were tortured and killed. Every day, trucks loaded with workers were taken away and shot. Thus, every Saturday for two years, a massacre was held.

Chen Tu-shu, who had arranged Chiang Kai-shek's dinner a week earlier, was also nearly arrested. He was hiding in Shanghai and managed to escape to Shanghai with the help of a friend. Zhou Enlai, who had been given a bounty, escaped Shanghai without a trace and arrived in Wuhan to attend the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party.

On April 13, Chiang Kai-shek formed a government in Yangtze. Chiang Kai-shek's government was immediately recognized by the West as the only legitimate government in China. At this time, there were two Kuomintang governments in China. One was Chiang Kai-shek's government in Nanjing, and the other was Wang Chengwei's government in Wuhan. The Han government was in dire straits. Foreign soldiers surrounded and blockaded Guhan. The businessmen and some members of the military were looking to Chiang Kai-shek.

In Beijing, more than 60 communist and trade union leaders were arrested. Among them was Li Tacho, who was strangled to death on April 17. The Soviet embassies in Guangzhou and Beijing were ransacked. In Guangzhou, the Russian diplomat and their families were killed. Throughout China, peasants and workers were brutally murdered by landlords and warlords.

At that time, Chen Tu was trembling like a rabbit that had fallen on its back in front of a tiger. Chen Tuxu held the Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of China in April. He represented 57, 965 members. Wang Chengwei attended as a special guest . At that time, the Wuhan Kuomintang was also preparing to hold its Fourth Congress for two days.

'' The Fifth Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was a surrendered Congress . Chen Tu said that the revolution (under the leadership of the Kuomintang) should be expanded. Chen Tu hoped that the "left" Kuomintang and the warlord Fan Yusheng, known as a Beijing democrat, would be able to stop the threat of Chiang Kai-shek.

The “left” Kuomintang now had only one choice. | That was to rally the warlords under the slogan of “China Reunification” and fight Chiang Kai-shek. However, the warlords supported Chiang Kai-shek, who had more power and money than Wang Chengwei in Wuhan. Some of them also changed sides frequently. “The Beijing warlord, Fan Yusheng, whom the “left” Kuomintang relied on, also supported Chiang Kai-shek and demanded that the Wuhan Kuomintang break with the communists.

The Fifth Congress of the Communist Party of China issued a slogan that “unity must be given priority in everything.” It decided that Mao Zedong was responsible for the “excesses” of the peasants. He was criticized and his right to vote in the Congress was revoked. He also criticized Zhou Enlai, saying that it was not right to disarm the workers. The Congress also considered that the killings of Chiang Kai-shek were caused by the workers’ incitement. .

`` The Congress did not say anything about Chiang Kai-shek's oppression of the workers and peasants. It did not object. It did not condemn. "The course of the Fifth Congress slowed down the agrarian revolution . It made concessions to the landlords, the warlords, and the peasants," said Chu Chubai. "The Party was still under the wing of Chiang Kai-shek. Although Chiang Kai-shek launched a counter-revolution and attacked the Communist Party in Shanghai and Nanjing, Chiang Kai-shek still made concessions to the Kuomintang in Wuhan and remained neutral," said Mao.

Mao Zedong opposed the surrender of Chang Tu to the Kuomintang. Chang Tu tried to bring the Kuomintang under his wing. However, despite his efforts, the so-called "leftists" in the Kuomintang became more anti-communist than anti-communist. Although they were more "leftist" in words than communists, they were anti-communist in actions. They were moving from left to right.

“I was not at all satisfied with the policy regarding the peasant movement at that time. If the peasants had been organized, armed, and engaged in class struggle, Soviets would have been established throughout China much earlier. But Chen Tushu strongly opposed this,” Mao Zedong said.

Later, Chen Tu said that he did this on the instructions of the Communist International. However, there is no evidence to support Chen Tu's statement. Among these , the instructions from Moscow were late. Moscow also did not know the details of the situation in China. "The duty of a communist is not to follow wrong orders knowingly. It is to make decisions with one's own head," Mao said . Mao elaborated on the problem in his “Report on the Hunan Peasant Movement.” The problem was a problem of class position. A problem of choice. A problem of Xu Dong. Chen Tu-shu and his Central Committee chose a path that was against the workers and peasants. They followed the landlords, the capitalists, and the warlords. In this way they destroyed themselves. “In that summer of treachery, cowardice, and murder, Borodin was sitting in Wuhan. Borodin and Chen Tu-shu were responsible for the defeats that had occurred in China at that time. “I was wrong. I did not understand the Chinese revolution... I made many mistakes,” Borodin told Anna Strong in 1939.

Anne Lewis Strong continued by saying that Boden saw, and other communists saw, that the revolution in China could not be a communist revolution, a workers' revolution, but a peasant revolution led by the urban working class in alliance with the nascent bourgeoisie . But this was only a mental concept. This was the survey that Stalin had conducted in 1926. But the ballots were not taken. No one except Mao did the same. They did the opposite.

By the end of April, Wuhan had shifted to the "left" Kuomintang. The Communist Party, led by Chen Tu, had "relyed" on Wang Cheng. But Wang Chengwei was just an opportunist like Chiang Kai-shek.