The Kiangsi Soviet Republic: Mao and the National Congresses of 1931 and 1934

116 Pages·1973·12.459 MB·English

by  Derek J. Waller

The Kiangsi Soviet Republic:
Mao and the National Congresses
of 1931 and 1934
A publicationofthe
CenterforChineseStudies
UniversityofCalifornia
Berkeley,California 94720
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
FredericE. Wakeman, Jr., Chairman
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CoverColophonbyShih-hsiangChen
Center for Chinese Studies • China Research Monographs
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
/NUMBER TEN
The Kiangsi
Soviet Republic:
Mao and the
National Congresses
of 1931 and 1934
DEREK J. WALLER
ft
a.
Althoughthe Center forChinese Studies is responsible for the
selection and acceptance of monographs in this series, respon
sibility forthe opinionsexpressedinthem and for the accuracy
of statements contained in them rests with their authors.
DerekJ.Walleris currently anassistant professor of political scienceat
Vanderbilt University. Born in England, he receivedan undergraduate
degree from theLondonSchool ofEconomics anddidgraduate workin
theUnitedStates attheuniversitiesofIndiana andStanford. He returned
to Londonto work at the School ofOriental and AfricanStudies, receiv
inghisPh.D. from theUniversity ofLondonin 1968 after field research
in Hong Kong. His major field of interest is comparative politics, es
pecially Chinese communism and comparative communist studies. Heis
the authorofThe Governmentand Politics of Communist China (1970),
andaco-authorof Comparative Communist Political Leadership (1973).
HeisnowpermanentlyresidingintheUnited States, andisatthepresent
timeconductingasurveyof the majortrendsin elitestudies.
©1973bytheRegentsoftheUniversityof California
ISBN 0-912966-11-4
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
$5.00
Contents
Acknowledgments 7
Abbreviations 8
I Introduction 9
Chingkangshan 9
II The LiLi-sanPeriod 11
III The First National Soviet Congress 22
Laws andResolutionsof the Congress 30
Creationof a Soviet Government 41
Summary 50
IV The Second National Soviet Congress 53
Preparations forthe Second Congress 60
The Election Campaign 66
The Proceedings of the Congress 84
Analysis ofthe New Government 103
Summary 108
V Conclusion Ill
Tables
1. CECMembers ElectedattheFirst NationalSoviet Congress 42
2. Whereabouts ofCECMembers attheFirstNational
Soviet Congress 48
3. Delegations to the Second National Soviet Congress ... 85
4. CECMembersElectedattheSecondNational
Soviet Congress 99
TO MY WIFE
Acknowledgments
I should like to thank the Research and Publications Committee of the
Hoover Institution onWar, Revolution andPeacefor a grantduringthe
summer of 1965, which first enabled me to gain acquaintance with the
Ch'en Ch'eng collection of documents. The library staff of the Hoover
Institution, in particular Mr. DavidTseng, were alwaysunfailinglyhelp
ful. The following year, the Universities' China Committee in London
were kind enough to finance a research visit to United States libraries
andinstitutions.Forcourtesies extendedduringthisvisit, I must express
mythanks to DonaldW. Klein andAnneB. Clark,who were most gen
erous in allowingme to use the materialthey had assembled towards
their biographic dictionary of Chinese communist leaders. I am also
grateful for similar assistance received from Howard L. Boorman. To
William F. Dorrill,who has worked extensively on the Kiangsi soviet
period, I am indebted for the time he spent with me in discussing his
research, and for permitting me to view a section of his unpublished
manuscript.
I shouldalsoliketo thank many otherswhohelped me with the study,
including William Brugger, Dennis Doolin, Tang Hsiang, John Lewis,
StuartSchram, P. J.Vatikiotis, and MichaelYahuda.
abbreviations
PublicationsandOrganizations
CC CentralCommittee
CCP ChineseCommunistParty
CEC CentralExecutiveCommittee
CPC CouncilofPeople'sCommissars
CPSU CommunistPartyofthe SovietUnion
CRBRD CollectionofRedBanditReactionaryDocuments
ECCI ExecutiveCommitteeoftheCommunistInternational
HCCP Hung-ch'ichou-pao (RedFlagWeekly)
HCJP Hung-ch'i jih-pao (RedFlag Daily)
HCYT Hsuan-chuyun-tungchou-pao (ElectionCampaignWeekly)
HH Hunghsing (RedStar)
HSCH Hungsechung-hua (RedChina)
KMT Kuomintang
RCQHP Resolutionon Certain Questions inthe Historyofour Party
RMC RevolutionaryMilitaryCouncil
SSC ShihSou (Ch'enCh'eng) Collection
TC Tou-cheng (Struggle)
WPI Workers' andPeasants'Inspectorate
Provinces
Che Chekiang
Hsiang Hunan
Kan Kiangsi
Min Fukien
O Hupeh
Wan Anhwei
Yii Honan
Yueh Kwangtung
PersonalNames
LoFu ChangWen-t'ien
LoMai LiWei-han
PoKu Ch'inPang-hsien
Wang Ming Ch'enShao-yii
I
Introduction
The early1930's,orKiangsi sovietperiod, isoneof themost obscurein
the history of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP]. This monograph
takes as its focal point thetwoNational Soviet Congresses convened at
Juichin, Kiangsi (thecapitaloftheChinese Soviet Republic) inNovem
ber 1931 andJanuary-February 1934. The major significance for this
study of these two National Congresses is that focussing attention on
them provides newinformation ontheinter-related themes of political
processes and powerrelations, aswellasfacilitating examination of the
roleofMaoTse-tungduringtheseyears.
It was after Chiang Kai-shek's anti-communist coup of April 1927
that Stalin first mooted the possibility of Soviets in China.1 The term
"soviet" wasborrowed directly from Russian experience andreferred to
the representative councils ofworkers, peasants, and soldiers first setup
atthetimeof the 1905 revolution andlater repeated in 1917. In China
it later cameto refer more generally to any territorial area controlled
bytheCCP.
Chingkangshan
Afterthefailure of theAutumn Harvest Uprisings, Mao Tse-tung took
refugeinthe mountain fastness ofChingkangshan ontheHunan-Kiangsi
border, where he began to establish"soviet areas."There were at least
three hundred of these soviet areasin existence at one time or another
during thetortuous andcomplexhistory of theCCPfromits foundation
in 1921 totheproclamation ofthePeople's Republic of China in 1949?
The Soviets sprangtolifeindifferent provinces ofChina, lasted for vary
ing periods of time, and ranged in nature from a hideout for purely
bandit guerrilla operations to functioning, viable political entities—
iPravda,July 28, 1927;quotedin RobertC.North, MoscowandChineseCom
munists,(SecondEdn.,Stanford: StanfordUniversityPress, 1963),p.109.
2Hung-ch'i jih-pao [hereafter HCJP] (RedFlag Daily),52 (October 8, 1930),
p.1; also, Chung-kuo kung-nung-ping hui-i (su-wei-ai) ti-i-tz'u ch'iian-kuo tai-piao
ta-hui chung-yang chun-pei wei-yuan-hui ch'iian-t'i hui-ipu-kao (Proclamation of
thePlenumoftheCentral Preparatory Committee fortheFirst National Congress
of theChinese Workers', Peasants' and Soldiers' Meetings [Soviets]), printed in
HsiaoTso-liang, PowerRelationswithin theChinese CommunistMovement, 1930-
1934 (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1967), Volume n, the Chinese
Documents, p. 82.I am particularly indebted throughout this monograph to the
pioneering work of Professor Hsiao, and also to his earlier volume of the same
title, consisting of commentaries onthedocuments (Seattle: University of Wash
ingtonPress, 1961).
autonomous enclaves in theheartofChina. Theso-called "Kiangsi soviet
period"inthehistoryoftheCCPistheearlyhistoryoftheChineseSoviet
Republic which existed in south-central Chinafromthe springof 1929s
to the autumn of 1934, and was, prior to the Long March, the most
importantofthelattertypeofsovietmentionedabove.
Quiteclearly,the experience ofChingkangshanwasessentially one of
failure, and in early 1929iteffectively ceasedto existas a revolutionary
base area when Mao Tse-tung, Chu Teh, and their followers withdrew
underKuomintang[KMT]pressuretosearchforamoresuitablelocation.
Nevertheless,Mao concludedthathispoliciesofcreating an army, operat
ingout ofaruralbase area,werefundamentally correct.Departure from
Chingkangshanmeant,not areturnto thecities,but the establishmentof
a new sovietbase, whichproved to be a far more enduring and viable
politicalentitythan anyof itsforerunners. Chalmers Johnsonhas aptly
described the idea of the territorial bases as "a 'rebel infrastructure,' or
'autonomousgovernment,'... [providing] food,refuge,an areainwhich
military equipment maybe manufactured, and trainingbases;and they
weakenthe status quo powerby removing territory from the system's
productivesubstructure."4It isgreatlytobedoubtedwhethertheChing
kangshanbasemetsuchrequirements, but it wasthere that the founda
tionwaslaidfor thefutureChineseSovietRepublic.
BreakingthroughtheKMTblockadeinJanuary 1929,Chu andMao,
withP'eng Teh-huai'sFifth Armyguarding their rear, began campaign
ingin Kiangsi. During 1929 they consolidated their base in the south
Kiangsi andwestFukienarea,withJuichin asits center. Bythe endof
1930nearlythewholeofsouthKiangsihadfallen totheRedArmy, and
the base of the central sovietregionshad been established, an area of
about seventeenhsienon the Kiangsi-Fukienborderwith a populationof
threemillion.5
Inline with the demands of the Ninth Plenum of the Executive Com
mittee of the Comintern [ECCI], held in Moscow in February 1928, the
CCPleadershipattemptedto createa singlecentralizedRed Armyfrom
bands of rovingguerrillaunitsin orderto carryout the agrarianrevolu
tion.By 1930therefore, the stagewassetfor the protractedstruggle of
the Party leadershipto callthe First NationalSovietCongress, establish
aformalsovietregime,and therebyextendtheir authority over the Red
Army and the soviet bases. The strugglewas to last almost two years.
sTheChineseSovietRepublicwas notactuallyestablisheduntilNovember 1931,
and was only formally abandonedin 1937on the conclusionof an anti-Japanese
unitedfrontwiththeKMT.
4Chalmers Johnson, Revolution and the Social System (Hoover Institution
Studies No. 3;HooverInstitution: StanfordUniversity, 1964),p.62.
5Harold R. Isaacs, The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution (Second Revised
Edition,Stanford: StanfordUniversity Press, 1961),p. 337.
10