Sun Yat Sen Legacy: The Left KMT?

What would the KMT become following Sun Yat sen's death in Beijing?

When Sun Yat-sen was dying of cancer in Beijing, the only people allowed to see him were his family, KMT Executive Wang Jingwei and Comintern representative Mikhail Borodin, whose real name was Grusenberg.  The Russian name was his alias.

Sun was asked to make his wishes known.  He chose instead to approve a text written for him by Wang Jingwei, who now headed an Extraordinary Political Council of the Nationalist party.  The official version of history is that Sun dictated his testament to Wang.  The evidence seems to suggest that it was written by Wang and Sun agreed to it.

For two weeks, the signing was postponed as Sun hoped to recover, although he had given verbal approval.  Then finally, when he was close to death, Sun, aided by his wife Song Qingling, signed the document written by Wang.  Nine others countersigned and authenticated it, some of whom were family members.

The public Will included these lines:

“For forty years, I have devoted myself to the cause of the national revolution, the objective of which is to restore to China its liberty and a rank equal [to that of the other nations].  The experience of those forty years has convinced me that if we wish to attain the objective, we must rouse the popular masses and unite with the peoples of the world that treat us on an equal footing, so as to pursue the common fight.  Today, the revolution has not yet triumphed.  May our comrades, guided by my writings, The Plan for National Reconstruction, The Fundamentals of National Reconstruction, The People’s Three Principles, and The Congress Manifesto, continue the struggle for this victory.  And, above all, it is also necessary as soon as possible to implement the plans that I have recently proposed for setting up a national convention and for abrogating the unequal treaties.  Those are my instructions.”

He also similarly signed a private testament, which left his personal property to his wife Qingling. 

Grusenberg also drafted a Letter of Farewell for Sun.  But it was not cosigned by anyone else as Sun’s testament was.  It is not clear that Sun himself even signed it.  It was about a hope that China and the USSR would advance together as allies in the great struggle for the liberation of the oppressed peoples of the world.

Quickly, difficult decisions needed to be made.  What kind of funeral would take place?  Sun had been baptised as a Christian.  His son and in-laws, who had studied in Christian colleges in the US, were strongly in favour of Protestant rites.  Communists could not accept a Christian ceremony.  So, two funerals took place on the same day. One Christian and one that was not.  A schism over Sun’s legacy already existed on the day of his memorial service.

At Sun Yat-sen’s Christian funeral, his wife’s elder sister’s husband referring to Sun Yat-sen by a name he is commonly called in Chinese said: “On the eve of his death, Mr. Sun-Wen declared that he was a Christian Protestant and had come into the world to fight against the spirit of evil, by proclaiming revolution, as Jesus did long ago.” A witness recounted that Sun had said “Just as Christ was sent by God to the world, so also did God send me.”  They told the family that they had this service to prove that Sun was not a Bolshevik.

At a second funeral, in front of the imperial palace in Beijing, attended by the Soviet Ambassador, Russian embassy staff surrounded the coffin and loudspeakers relayed a recording of Sun Yat-sen’s voice exalting nationalism.

For three weeks, Sun’s coffin lay in state in the capital and the public filed past in homage.  He had expressed the wish to be buried in Nanjing. But for now, he had a provisional burial at the Temple of Azure Clouds, surrounded by pine trees, in the western suburban hills of Beijing.

Madame Sun Yat sen was a widow at age 31, after 10 years of marriage.  She was considerably younger than her husband, who had previously been married twice when he and Qingling married in a simple ceremony in Tokyo in 1915.  She had been 21 years old then, recently returned to Asia after years of studies in America at Wesleyan College in the State of Georgia.  Her father, had sent all his children to study in the US, including his three daughters.  The eldest had married Mr. H.H. Kong, who gave the religious eulogy for Sun.  The eldest sister and her husband were the most religious in the family.  Madame Sun Yat-sen was probably the least religious.  The youngest Song sister was in between when it came to her Christian faith and would later marry Chiang Kai-shek and become China’s First Lady.

Qingling, the Madame Sun Yat sen, had a long-time interest in politics.  In her college room in Georgia, she had the Qing flag on her wall. As soon as she heard about the 1911 Revolution, she climbed on a chair and pulled it down and replaced it with the new Republic of China flag her father had sent her.  He had also previously studied in the US and had secretly financed Sun Yat-sen and his revolutionary efforts.  Qingling told her roommate “Down with the Dragon.  Up with the flag of the Republic!”  She would have been 17 years old then.

Because of the importance of this family, I will take a moment to explain their background more.  Her father, Charlie Soong was born in Hainan, the large island in the south of China.  He was of a similar age to Sun Yat sen and also came from a humble background.  Charlie did not have an older brother in Honolulu to sponsor him.  Instead, Charlie had moved to Java where an uncle had adopted him.  That uncle took him to Boston, where Charlie lived in Chinatown and worked hard and for free in his uncle’s tiny silk and tea store.  Tired to working as an unpaid labourer, he walked down to the port and talked his way onto a US cutter. The captain liked him and hired him.  Charlie, being only 5 feet tall, was thought to be younger than he was, and the captain treated him well.  Charlie worked hard, was deferential, easy going and cheerful.  He was introduced to the Methodist denomination.  When the captain transferred to another ship in North Carolina, Charlie quit the first ship and joined him.  He was baptised there and sponsored to Trinity College, today’s Duke University. 

Charlie knew English better than Chinese and when he returned to China as a Methodist Preacher, he was strongly marked by his time in America.  He married a Chinese Christian and soon realized he couldn’t finance his growing family on a preacher’s income.  He went into business in the Shanghai area and prospered.  He made sure that every one of his children, boys and girls, was well educated in the United States.  And he quietly funded Sun Yat-sen and agreed with the goal of turning China into a Republic.  It was through this family connection that Qingling was able to meet Sun and adored him.  Sun too fell for Qingling and he ended his second marriage to be with Qingling.

When Sun was dying, Qingling had let her sisters know and they had come to Beijing for support.  She told them that Wang Jingwei was a “snake”.  Wang Jingwei was probably best known at this point for having attempted to assassinate the Manchu Prince Regent in 1910.  That was the father of the Emperor Puyi.  Wang failed and was sent to prison.  He was released following the 1911 Revolution.  Grusenberg supported him and it was with Grusenberg’s blessing that Wang had written Sun’s last testament.  Wang was the second highest ranked member of the KMT’s Central Executive Committee after Sun.

Sun Yat-sen had been impressed with the adoration that Lenin’s body had received in Moscow. He wanted something similar, and the Russians provided a glassed topped coffin.  But it would not work in the heat of Nanjing, which was to be Sun’s final resting place and the idea was dropped. 

A Lenin like cult did build up.  Only now was Sun routinely called “the Father of China”.  The KMT Nationalists were keen to be seen as followers of this fallen hero.

After Sun’s death, a new leadership structure was needed in the KMT.  The government in Guangzhou now called itself a Nationalist Government, which aimed to be the national government.  Wang Jingwei was elected Chairman.  Hu Hanmin, a longtime soldier and revolutionary ally of Sun Yat-sen, considered on the right of the party, was Foreign Minister. That was a grand title, but it meant little since the Nationalist Government was not the recognized government of China.  Liao Zhongkai was considered on the left of the party and was Minister of Finance.  He wanted to build Guangdong on socialist models.

In August 1925, Liao was assassinated.  A cousin of Hu was believed to be responsible for the death.  Whether true or not, this cast shadows on Hu.  The cousin fled and Hu retired for now, even though he was not personally implicated.  All of a sudden, two of the party’s leading men had been sidelined.

Liao had been one of the few people that Chiang Kai-shek had admitted his true feelings about the Soviets to.  Chiang didn’t trust the Soviets but pretended to be friendly to them.  Whether or not Chiang was involved in the assassination, Liao’s death did help conceal Chiang’s key secret.

Wang was now clearly in charge and had the support of the KMT left as well as the Soviets. 

In October 1925, 15 members of the KMT right met outside of Beijing and considered themselves to be a meeting of the Central Executive Committee.  They voted to dismiss Grusenberg and to expel the Communists from the party.  The leadership in Guangzhou didn’t recognize this vote and said the meeting was too small to constitute quorum.  The matter would be decided at the next party congress.

In January 1926, less than a year after Sun’s death,  the Communists took greater control of the KMT at its annual congress.  Wang Jingwei was confirmed as leader.  More Communists were elected to KMT positions.  Half the departments were controlled by Communists or KMT left members.  Cooperation with the USSR and the Communist Party was confirmed.  Two of the 15 rightists who had met outside Beijing were expelled.

This was a step too far. Even some Communists thought that this would not increase Communist power in substance and would only create a backlash.  It did. 

Grusenberg was behind the Communist elections at the Congress.  He considered it a great success.  The propaganda department was headed by Wang Jingwei, but he was so busy as leader, that many of the duties fell to his deputy, Mao Zedong.

Grusenberg then left Guangdong for north China, thinking that matters were in good shape in the south.

Chiang Kai-shek now decided to act. First, he concealed his motives by requesting to return to Russia to study revolution.  Then he arrested Communists in the army, disarmed the guard for the Russian advisors and placed them under surveillance. He did this while confusing the Russians.  They believed that Chiang was simply a Chinese nationalist offended by overly bossy Russians.  Chiang asked for Grusenberg, who was out of town and said that Mikhail would be able to straighten everything out.  The Soviets thought the best response was to mollify Chiang and give him space and a greater feeling of control.  So, Chiang’s first moves worked.  He had greater control of the army without any real pushback by the Communists.

Wang Jingwei was ill when this occurred and called Chiang a counter revolutionary.  But instead of fighting him or out-maneuvering him, Wang left for Hong Kong and then for France.   He took no real steps to preserve his authority.  He didn’t have the stomach or skills for a real fight.

Chiang then summoned a meeting of the Central Executive Committee.  Wang was replaced and one of Chiang’s supporters was installed as Chairman.  Resolutions were passed so that the Communists could not criticize the late Sun Yat-sen or his ideas and must accept his program wholeheartedly.  No Communist could serve as Chairman of the Central Executive Committee or as director of any department.  Other rules restricting Communists’ powers and requiring list of Communist Party members to be provided were also passed.

Chiang was promoted from Director of the Whampoa Military Academy to Commander-in-Chief of the Nationalist Army.  This position is also known as Generalissimo.  Sun Yat-sen had once had the same title.

Chiang muddied the waters by denouncing the rightists in the KMT party and proclaiming his support for Soviet – KMT collaboration.  He explained away his coup at the Military Academy by blaming his subordinate.

One effect of the changes was that the military was no longer beneath the political structure in the KMT.  Party control over the military was weakened.  The Soviets were not blaming Chiang for the coup and the rightists didn’t seem to mind him, given that the Communists had just been put in a more junior position. 

About a month later, Chiang’s role in the Executive Committee increased.  Chiang was now the most powerful man in the party and still had the support of the Soviets.  He wanted them and the Communist Party followers for the long talked about Northern Expedition.  Sun had been seeking a Northern Expedition for years.  Now Chiang controlled a Russian funded army, Communist and Soviet support and was leader of the KMT.  He stayed close with the Soviets for now. He needed their military support.

Please join us again as we build towards the Nationalists’ Northern Expedition under the KMT’s new leader, Chiang Kai-shek.