Destruction of Kuomintang China by the Armies of the Chinese Communist Party - Essay Example

WHAT BROUGHT ABOUT THE DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION OF KUOMINTANG CHINA BY THE ARMIES OF THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY? Your name Subject Date INTRODUCTION In the history of China, there arose national leaders each with their own mission but the most notable ones were Dr. Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kaishek and Mao Tse-tung. The former two were loyal to Kuomintang while the latter was a protagonist of change inculcated with communism ideologies. Due to their difference in ideological inclination the first two leaders and the last were always at loggerheads as regards the leadership in China. Kuomintang’s formation The name is loosely translated to “China’s National People’s Party” and was founded, by Sun Yat-sen on 25th August 1912 (The History of Kuomintang). It was formed as a revolutionary group geared towards the overthrowing of the Qing Dynasty and it constituted the majority in the first National Assembly in China (New World Encyclopedia). Kuomintang, therefore, proved itself to be both a political and military organisation. While Kuomintang was in power Sun Yat-sen was appointed the premier as Yuan Shikai became the president of China. However, after some time the president exited some disliking for Kuomintang as he resorted to making his decisions in total disregard of the Parliament, which was largely made of Kuomintang members (New World Encyclopedia). The rift between the president and Kuomintang was further aggravated by the death of the parliamentary leader, Song Jiaoren, who Kuomintang strongly believed was assassinated by the president. Song Jiaoren succumbed to wounds caused by gunshots at Shangai rail station. The irate members of Kuomintang, once again, under the leadership of Sun Yat Sen attempted to stage a second revolution. This time it was against the presidency of Yuan Shikai. Be that as it may, in July 1913 Sun Yat-sen organised his men and attacked Yuan Shikai, however, unlike the first time, Kuomintang’s attempt backfired due to various reasons including ill support. What ensued was dissolution of Kuomintang while some of its leaders fled to exile; consequently Shian Yaun dismantled the parliament and declared himself the emperor of China (The History of Kuomintang). Most of the Kuomintang members, including Sun Yat-sen had fled to Japan. There Sun Yat-sen established the Chinese Revolutionary Party and he naturally assumed that he would once again get support from his allies; nevertheless, they declined to attack Yuan Shikai again. The year 1916 was marked with the death of Yuan Shikai and for some time China was divided into regions under different warlords (The History of Kuomintang). In 1920 Kuomintang gained entry into China, united with the Communist Party of China to form the First United Front. Once again, in 1925 Kuomintang suffered a blow in the form of Sun Yat-sen’s death but it quickly recovered from it by appointing Chiang Kai-shek as the overall leader. Finally, in 1927 Chiang with the help of Kuomintang was able to ascend to power and shifted China’s capital to Nanjing so as to be nearer to Kuomintang’s capital’s base in the south (The History of Kuomintang). Chinese civil war The precursor of the Chinese civil war was the Shanghai Massacre ( Exploring Chinese History) Notably, the Chinese civil war is divided into two phase, the first phase occurred prior to Japanese invasion of China and the second happened after the Japanese were removed from China. History has it that it was Chiang who instigated the civil war in China. No sooner had he come into powered than he reined terror on the members of the Communist Party in what was later to be known as the Shanghai Massacre (Chinese Civil War). So intimidated was Chiang by the Communist Party that during the Northern Expedition, in 1997, a call for the landlords to surrender, he paid a surprise visit to the communists’ base and mercilessly butchered the communists( Cucchisi,1997:21). In retaliation the communists through the assistants of peasants and miners staged the Autumn Harvest Uprising (Chinese Civil War). Scholars have advanced the possible reasons as to why the civil war erupted considering the fact that Kuomintang, had at one time, and formed an alliance to oust the tyrannical war lords in China. One of the factors is that of ideological differences, the two had different perspectives towards the formation and organisation of the society (Chinese Civil War). This factor is analysed at two levels: local and international. Under the local level, it was apparent that China was fragmented into two classes of people: the wealthy landlords and the peasants. It follows that Kuomintang was prejudiced against the peasants in favour of the rich whereas the Communist Party had the interest of the poor at heart (Chinese Civil War). At the international plane Kuomintang’s ideas were in line with United States’ ideas of capitalism, hence, it received immense support from the United States. While on the other hand, the Communist Party’s approach to life struck a resemblance with the Soviet Union, and such they were greatly assisted by the Soviet Union. Both the US and Soviet Union had an interest in China so that their funding of the two warring groups was purely motivated by their own national interests (Chinese Civil War). Soon after Japan’s invasion in China, in 1937, Chiang diverted his attention to fighting the Japanese forces (Cucchisi, 1997:21). He felt that the sovereignty was likely to be more jeopardised by the Japanese than the communists, little did he know that while he focused on the Japanese he had given ample time to the communist to strengthen their military power. The war between Kuomintang and the communists resumed after the expulsion of the Japanese from the Chinese territory. This time round, the communists defeated the government of Chiang resulting to Mao becoming the president while Chiang and his officials lived in exile (Cucchisi, 1997:22). At the same time some people loyal to Chiang defected in support of Mao (Kuomintang Islamic Insurgency) FACTORS LEADING TO THE DEFEAT AND DESTRUCTION OF KUOMINTANG It is crucial at this point to outline the factors leading to the Communist Party’s victory over Kuomintang since it is observed in the foregoing discussion that Kuomintang was military advantaged, yet they conceded defeat in the second phase of the civil war. Below are some of the arguments posited to explain Kuomintang’s defeat. MILITARY FACTORS Demoralization of Kuomintang troops During the war against Japan the Kuomintang troops fought tooth and nail, owing to the motivation they had to get rid of Japan’s invasion on their national territory. However, due to the exhausting engagement of the war the troops lacked the same zeal to engage in yet another war with the Communist Party (HWA Chong Institution: 3). Krishnan (in HWA Chong Institution: 3) is captured having said that they fought merely out of duty to obey orders and that at the beginning of the Civil War they demonstrated their “final ditch effort before the final collapse.” Again, it was observed that the strategies employed by Kuomintang forces were so inefficient, which inefficiency culminated in their defeat and loss of lives of soldiers. First and foremost, Chiang deployed a large number of his troops to Manchuria which led to either the capturing or slaughtering of 470,000 troops. Similarly, his decision to attack the communist’s leaders in the Northwestern regions cost him another 400,000 troops. According to the HWA Chong Institution, these and other unnecessary quests took a toll on the manpower of Kuomintang, in the long run, by September 1948 Chiang had lost many of his soldiers and had succeeded in destroying the morale of the nationalist army as he lost his best American-trained troops in the battle.” The Kuomintang troops, again had their spirit dampened by the harshness of the hardship they were exposed to, while fighting the communist forces, in Manchuria. It is said that they were subjected to hunger and cold, thereby making those who survived death to surrender to the communist forces (The Civil War: 1). Shuzi (1952) observes that albeit Chiang’s possession of modern weapons, supplied by USA, and large numbers of troops he failed because his army also consisted of peasants who were forced to become soldiers, some of whom were kidnapped, and these soldiers upon conscription were ill treated by the high-ranking officers in the military. Discipline in communist troops While Chiang failed to instill and maintain discipline amongst his soldiers and officials, on the other hand, Mao realized the importance of this virtue. He worked hard to foster discipline within his forces, known as the People’s Liberation Amy, by being emphatic on the need to treat the civilian population with dignity and respect (The Civil War: 1). The rules of discipline were summarized to: obeying orders, not stealing from the public and surrendering all loot. In his beliefs, Mao considered the army as a significant means of spreading the ideologies that the Communist Party stood for, and as such his army endeared itself to the public since it was distinguished to be diametrically opposite to the undisciplined forces of Kuomintang (The Civil War:1). Military skills and strategies of the communists In history, the communists’ victory is traceable to Mao’s intellect and strategies; he was also described as an exceptional military whose prowess in war could not go unnoticed (Communist Victory). Mao( The Civil War:1) had taken stock of the military superiority of guerilla warfare which they had used against the Japanese and the Nationalists in Manchuria, he therefore, commented that the establishment of base areas in the mountains and launching surprise attacks on enemies is formidable when fighting with adversaries endowed with superior weapons. Hence, the techniques adopted by the communists enabled them to identify and weaken the military units of Kuomintang, one after the other, slowly reducing the number of its troops. Furthermore, the communists were concentrated in the rural areas while their adversaries, the Kuomintang troops were confined in the urban areas such that when the communists’ troops destroyed communication channels, for instance, the railway line the Kuomintang forces lay paralysed in the city (The Civil War: 2). Addition of human power to the communist forces As already stated previously that Chiang’s decision to send his troops to Manchuria made him lose many of his soldiers this was not the case for Mao who benefitted from reinforcement. First and foremost, his force, the People’s Liberation Army, was under the command of an exceptional military officer who fearlessly led the soldiers to victory (The Civil War: 2). Two, the army was enlarged by virtue of conscription of peasant supporters and the army of the Manchukuo government in Manchuria, worse still some troops from Kuomintang defected to the People’s Liberation Army hence further weakening the already dismantled Kuomintang (The Civil War: 2). In contrast, the Communist Party did not use force to conscript the peasants into the military, where Kuomintang used coercion the Communist Party advertised itself to the peasants. All these events boil down to the fact that the Kuomintang troops were dwarfed by the alliances formed against them. Dilution of the nationalist forces by communist agents Although we have already highlighted that the Nationalist forces lacked disciplined the failure of the Kuomintang was aggravated by the infiltration of communist agents. For instance, Wei Lihuang, who was a commander in Kuomintang, was a communist agent who used his senior position in Kuomintang to frustrate the efforts and progress of the soldiers under his command (The Civil War: 3). Similarly, two Kuomintang Generals, Lin Fei and Guo Rugui, worked as undercover agents of the communists and leaked top secrets to them. Even family members of top officers within Kuomintang acted as agents of the communists, for example, Fuo Zuoyi, a general and friend to Chiang, was betrayed by his daughter who would access information connected to Kuomintang, through him, and leak it to the communists (The Civil War:3). Nevertheless, Kuomintang was not able to have access to top secrets of the communists. SOCIAL FACTORS Loss of respect for Kuomintang officials After sometime, the people of China became tired of the presence of the Kuomintang; this was mostly attributed to the misbehavior of its officials. They irritated the public in various ways among them include: one, after occupying the areas that were abandoned by the Japanese the officials treated the people there with contempt while regarding them as traitors (HWA Chong Institute: 4). Two, instead of having the interests of the people at heart, as they had illustrated in their struggle against the Japanese, the officials of Kuomintang proved to be even worse than the oppressive Japanese regime through their selfish plundering of properties (HWA Chong Institute:4). Three, they greatly contributed to the impoverishment of the people by means of compelling them to convert the Japanese supported currency into legal currency at a rate double the expected rate. Communists growing support The greater percentage of the Chinese population was the peasants whom the communists had won their favour through three apparent ways. One was that communists, unlike Kuomintang, had stationed their headquarters at the rural areas where many peasants were found, two, they had confiscated land belonging to landowners and redistributed it to the peasants, and three, many peasants had been drafted into the communist forces (HWA Chong Institute: 5). Through the above listed means the peasants felt part and parcel of the communist movement thus pledged their allegiance to it. Nevertheless, there came a time when the communists felt that there was need to expand their territory to the city and usurp the influence that Kuomintang had over the cities. In their quest they started humbly by controlling Harbin, a city in northern Manchuria, and the only city they had captured, where they learnt how to perform administrative functions such as: prevention of corruption, introduction of fair taxation systems and equitable distribution of scarce supplies of food (The Civil War:6). Whenever they captured a city they used attractive modes to appeal to the public such as: enlisting the assistance of newspapers, radio and films to make their ideologies known to the members of the public (The Civil War: 6). In addition, the communist’s troops, under the guidance of their rules were encouraged to refrain from looting cities brought under the control of the communists. ECONOMIC FACTORS Increase of Inflation When China was at war with Japan they erred by printing notes to fund the war. This occasioned a notorious inflation that spilled over to after the end of the war. Due to this mistake the HWA Chong Institute reiterates that “the notes in circulation grew from 1.3 billion Yuan in January 1937 to 25 billion by the end of 1948.” Many of the Chinese people were so detrimentally affected by the price increase of thirty percentages per month between 1945 and 1948 that they were looking forward to administrative reforms. The disintegration of industries and harsh living conditions in China saw the rise of workers strikes calling for the mitigation of the harshness of the hard economy (Shuzi, 1957). The United Press (in Shuzi, 1957) was quoted as saying “The people below the middle class are not able to go on living; discontent and resentment against the status quo prevail. Everyone wants a change.” Land Reforms Land everywhere has been viewed as one of the means of production yet to some it is deemed the bottom line of the living, most especially among peasants. Having taken cognisance of this reality, the Communist Party initiated land reforms in favour of the indigent. It is recorded that in the 1930s in the region of Yan’an the communists gained popularity by redistributing land belonging to landlords to the peasants (The Civil War: 4). Even though, in 1945, they loosened the rigidity in their land reforms, by allowing landlords to sell their lands to the poor instead of having their land confiscated, they resumed their hard stance in 1946 (The Civil War: 4). POLITICAL FACTORS Soviet Union’s direct assistance to the communists It is observed that not only did the Soviet Union extend material assistance to the communists but that it was also their main supporter in their political agitation (Shuzi, 1952). This was because it did not want to lose its grip on china to American capitalism; the fear of being negated by capitalism prompted it in supporting the communists, who were cordial to the Soviet Union’s political inclination and ideologies. One interesting thing to note is that, although the Soviet Union gave back Manchuria to Chiang’s government, as a gesture of acknowledging the legitimacy of his leadership, it was not before it had destroyed the factories and mining machineries located in Manchuria (Shuzi, 1952). In the long run, Manchuria turned out to be of no importance to Chiang, if anything; it contributed to the downfall of Kuomintang, as earlier seen where many of his troops were killed there. On the contrary, after disarming the Japanese troops the Soviet Union armed the communists with weapons retrieved from the Japanese, so that the communists were able to capture villages and towns occupied by Chiang’s army (Shuzi, 1952). America’s indirect assistance to the communists It worth noting that both the communist and Kuomintang received immense support from foreign governments. On one hand, Kuomintang was supported by USA while, on the other hand, the communists enjoyed the support of the Soviet Union (The Civil War: 4). Notwithstanding, the assistance accorded Kuomintang from USA in 1946 it halted its attack on the communist forces in Harbin under the persuasion of George Marshall, an envoy of President Truman in China (The Civil War: 4). This was more than what the communist forces had bargained for as they hurriedly capitalised on this opportunity to regroup themselves in readiness for future attacks from Kuomintang. By the time Chiang decided to attack them they had reconfigured their defence in such a way that it was difficult for Chiang to break through. Failure of the Kuomintang government As a matter of fact the Kuomintang government arose through the aid of bloodshed, and as such it was unfriendly to its people most especially the poor who constituted the bulk of its citizenry (Shuzi, 1952). The rift between the government and the poor was caused by ideologies embraced by Kuomintang which informed its political alignment. It is for this reason that Kuomintang preferred USA to Soviet Union due to their similar predispositions to capitalism. On the contrary, both the Communist Party and the Soviet Union had a liking for communism (Shuzi, 1952). The government went on its way to use every possible means to suppress any opposition from the proletariat, hence, the bourgeoisie benefitted from this. Not only did this stir resentment from the poor towards the government but also it exacerbated the animosity between the poor and the wealthy landlords. As previously stated, the officials within Kuomintang government plundered national resources to amass wealth for themselves. During Chiang’s tenure his government was marred with corruption from political leaders and warlords, perpetrated by tyranny as any opposition from the poor aimed towards these abysmal deeds was contained through violent means (Shuzi, 1952). Political factions within Kuomintang Evidently, many of the poor peasants were dissatisfied with the leadership of Chiang. This, after some time, seemed to spread across the bourgeoisie class. One such faction metarphosed to Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, led by Li Chi-shen, which had foreseen the fall of Chiang and had, therefore, opted to dialogue with Mao before the actual fall of Chiang (Shuzi, 1952). Chiang was also troubled by constant rebellion from his juniors, for instance Ch’eng Ch’ien, the governor of Hunan province, and Lu Han, the governor of Yunnan (Shuzi, 1952). His woes did not end there, Chiang experienced more woes when the Kwangsi group, under the leadership of Li Tsung-jen and Pai Ch’ung-hsi, decided that it was better than Kuomintang, thereby it strived to usurp Chiang (Shuzi, 1952). CONCLUSION The struggle in China has been one for power characterised by the conflict between different ideologies and social classes. Inevitably, social classes cannot be divorced from the society, and the society in China was not exempted from this reality. Right before the Civil War the poor Chinese people who formed the greater percentage of the population were already groaning under the oppression of the merciless landlords. It appears that both of the two classes were out to advance their own interests. This is because while the rich were busy trying to safeguard their status quo the poor were busy striving to upset theirs that was partly contributed by the rich landlords’ position in the society. Owing to the difference in social stratification ideologies emanated, and as such the two classes in China adopted the ideology that would help them advance their interests. The prevalent forms of ideologies were communism and capitalism It follows then that the rich landlords preferred capitalism wile the peasants gave preferential treatment to communism. As a matter of fact the support accorded any national leader was dependent on his ideological alignment. From this it is deduced that Kuomintang was mostly preferred by the wealthy people whereas the Communist Party received support from the peasants. What ensued after the social and ideological differences was a struggle between Kuomintang and the Communist Party. This struggle later on attracted the attention of foreign governments, whereas the US rallied behind Kuomintang the Soviet Union showed loyalty to the Communist Party, each of the two countries wanting to promote their ideologies. Even so, it is recorded that Kuomintang ascended to power with the assistance of the Communist Party. The relationship between the two turned sour culminating in the first phase of the civil war, before the advent of World War II and the second phase after the war and expulsion of the Japanese troops from China. Although Kuomintang was advantaged in many aspects it conceded defeat to the Communist Party. This was attributed to factors ranging from military to social. It has been argued that since Kuomintang was the ruling government it was obligated to go to war with Japan in order to protect the sovereignty of China. While so doing, the Communist Party was at liberty to organise itself to fight Kuomintang one the war was over. Kuomintang failed to appeal to the masses something that the Communist Party was good at. The Communist Party, in the long run, won the confidence of both the poor and the rich in China. Kuomintang was challenged with the problem of disloyalty, in which case of its insiders defected to the Communist Party carrying with them secrets, much to the detriment of Kuomintang. In summary, what the Communist Party displayed was that wars are not won through financial and military resources only but that strategies such winning the support of the masses play a great role. REFERENCES Communist Victory in Chinese Civil War. Chinese Civil War. Available from http://www.mrhistoreu (17th May 2013) Cucchisi, J.(1997) The Cause and Effects of the Chinese Civil War, New York: Pace University Exploring Chinese History. Available from http://ibiblio.org (17th May 2013) HWA Chong Institute, The Rise and Impact of Communism in China Shuzi, P. (1952) The Causes the Victory of the Chinese Communist Party over Chiang Kai-shek and the CCP’s Perspectives, Available from http://marxist.org (17th May 2013) The Civil War in China. Available from http://www.hisorylearningsite.co.uk (17th May 2013) Read More