The Nationalist Party: Guomindang
国民党
The return of Sun Yat-sen
Soviet advisors: Mikhail Borodin
“democratic centralism” and party
organization
Sun’s Ideology revisited: the Three
Principles of the People
Factions: rightist, leftist, center/military
Chiang Kai-shek (Jiang Jieshi)
蒋介石(1888-1975)
A military man
Underworld connections in Shanghai
Heads the Whampoa military academy in
1924
A centrist: but distrustful of the left, of
Soviets, and of Chinese communists
Heads the National Revolutionary Army of
the Nationalist Party
Chiang Kai-shek in power
Skillful negotiator, can
play warlord politics
quite well
Close links with
financial base in
Shanghai= he has $$
“Blue Shirts”: Fascist
group with sworn
loyalty to Chiang
The National Revolution: Mass
Movements
Social component of the revolution, led by
Chinese Communist Party and leftist
Nationalist Party members
Rural: Farmers Movement Training
Institute, Farm Associations
Rent reduction campaigns, increasing
violence against landlords and rural elites
Cities: massive labor strikes
Emphasis on class struggle
Fallout and Effects of the National
Revolution
Removes or Weakens warlords, reunifies China
under the Nationalist Party-state
End of the Alliance with Chinese Communists,
abandonment of many social goals of revolution
Bloody suppression, particularly in Shanghai,
Nanjing, Canton
Death or banishment of many talented
revolutionaries
Start of the “Nanjing Decade” of Nationalist rule
from 1928-1937
Accomplishments
Economics: beginnings of a modern
industrial sector, mining, manufacturing,
electricity production
Infrastructure development: highways and
railroads
Foreign relations: removal of tariffs
Experiments in Local government
Failures and Shortcomings
Authoritarian rule: no more mass
movements
Military domination of government
No program for rural China
Ineffective administration
Poor tax system
Social costs: (more to come next week)