Counter-Revolution From Above: The Party Consolidation Campaign of the Guomindang, 1928–1929

Counter-Revolution From Above: The Party Consolidation Campaign of the Guomlndang, 1928-1929 by Wang Ke-wen Traditional portrayal of the "Nanjing Decade" (1927-37), the ten pre-War years durJng which China proper was under Guomindang "Party rule," has led us to believe that Jiang Jieshi was in total control of the P~rty, aRd that the Party had become thoroughly conservative following the Purge q,f 1927. Very often Jiang, the Party and the Nanj Jng regime are se1 en as one and the same. While convenient as a way of distinguishing the GMD from other political forces Jn Cl"d na at the time, such a description is not at all accurate and ultimately hinders a better understanding of the history of the GMD. lt grossly ignores the prolonged transformation "from revolution to restoration" of the GMD in the late 1920's, and the intra-party conf1 icts over leadership and ideo] ogy that accompanied it. A crucial development that altered the course of the Chinese revolution is thus obliterated under a simplistic periodizat.ion. lt is the purpose of this study, therefore, to shed light on the GMD's difficult tr-ansformation by examining a previously little noted episode during the'early years of the Nanjing regime. Launchj ng- the Campaig·n By early 1928, the "National Revolution" that had been building momentum since 1924 had come to an abrupt and chaotic end. As the First United Front collapsed, Chinese Communists withdrew in shambles from the GMD. The GMD emerged victorious in the struggle, but was also de mora 1 i zed and in disarray. "The RevoJ uti on had failed," "The Party is br~ken" were expressions found everywhere in the GMD publications of the late 1920's. One can hardly detect the joy of victory. Much of this disillusionment resulted from the Party Purge of 1927 launched by Jiang J leshi. The Purge shattered not only the coalition upon which the revolutionary movement had been based, but also the ideals and hopes of many GMD members, over 90% of whom had joined the Party in 1924-1927, the heyday of' the Party's radicalism .[l] These GMD members were not only shocked and disgusted by the savagery of the internecine atrocities in 1927, they also lost a sense of purpose and direct ion when the Party's major poU cies of the past three years were suddenly denounced as "communist" and "counter-revolutionary." 39 As other survivors of the Purge joined the CCP underground or drifted away from po 1it ics, those who remained in the GMD felt an urgent need to search for their Party's new identity. Under thP. uew leadership of Jiang Jieshi, the Nanjing regime provided its own solution to this "identity crisis"; it was a negation of all the radical approaches to revolution of the United Front period. Yet this solution deepened the frustration ,of the Party's more ideallstic members. While Jiang accused the CCP and leftists of disrupting social order and hindering his effort to unify China, many GMD members analyzed the situation differently. They beiieved that Jiang and his followers were largely responsible for the disaster of 1927, and that the conservative line adopted by Nanjing was a continuation of the mistakes that had already set back the National !{evolution. It was against this background of internal cr1s1s and conflict that a "Party Consolidation" (dangwu zheugli) campaign was initiated by Nanjing in early 1928. Fully aware of the fact that nominal Party leadership did not guarantee him the loyalty of all Party members , Jiang began to extend his control outward and downward tram Nanjing immediately after his return to power at the Fourth Plenum (of the Second Central Committee) in February 1928. The Fout' lh Plenum ordered a re-examination and re--regis t.ration of the entire Party membership. In order to accomplish this goal, "Oirectory Committees" were appointed by the Central Headquarters to take over all provincial-level Party branches. These provincial Directory Commit tees wou·l d i. n turn appoint county Directory Committees to the county-1 evel Party branches un'der their jur isdi ctions , which would then supervise tlu~ r...