The Penguin History of the Twentieth Century by J M Roberts

Author:J M Roberts
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780141928494
Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd
Published: 2008-11-25T16:00:00+00:00

THE LAST THROES OF THE CHINESE REVOLUTION

China had for a long time been engaged in fighting off Japanese imperialism; western imperialism in that country, dwindling since 1918, effectively disappeared in the Second World War when significantly, the last vestiges of the ‘unequal treaties’ with Great Britain, France and the United States were swept away. Survival of Japanese aggression and completion of the Chinese revolution was made possible by that conflict too. In 1941, when the Sino-Japanese war merged in a world conflict, China's diplomatic position at once improved. She now had powerful allies and a new international standing. Symbolic and moral support was for some time as important as any military help the Allies could then give; they were too busy extricating themselves from the disasters of early 1942 to do much for China, though the Americans operated air force units from Chinese airfields against the Japanese. A Chinese army, too, came to help to defend northern India and the Burma Road from the Japanese. For the rest, still hemmed in as a government to the west of their country, the Chinese had for a long time to hold out as best they could, only just in touch with their allies by land and air. Nonetheless a decisive change was under way.

For all the continuing friction and sometimes open conflict between communists and nationalists, a measure of national unity and cooperation endured between KMT and CPC, broadly speaking, until 1941. Paradoxically, the appearance of a real prospect of victory then began to weaken their ties. The new fact that the United States was now Japan's major enemy, and was almost certain to defeat her in the long run, began subtly to transform the attitude of the Chungking government. It came to feel that as that outcome was assured, there was no point in using up men and resources in fighting the Japanese when they might be husbanded for the struggle against the communists after the peace. Some KMT supporters went further and were soon fighting the communists again.

The other, communist, China was nonetheless solidifying as the war went on. Chungking increasingly displayed the lethargy, self-seeking and corruption which had from the early 1930s tainted and divided the KMT because of the nature of the vested interests on which it drew for support. Though vigorous in the promotion of national feeling against the western powers, the regime was repressive and stifled criticism. It alienated the intellectuals. Its soldiers, often badly officered and undisciplined, terrorized the peasants as much as did the Japanese. Communist China was different. In the large areas the communists controlled (often behind the Japanese lines, but much of China had never been effectively occupied by the Japanese), there were often violent and brutal attacks on ‘enemies of the people’, though deliberate attempts were also made to retain the support of interests won over by moderate but unambiguous reform and disciplined behaviour. Peasant goodwill was cultivated by enforcing lower rents and abolishing usury. Meanwhile, Mao set out the theoretical framework needed to prepare the new communist cadres for the task that lay ahead.

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