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| First United Front | |
|---|---|
| 聯俄容共 | |
 | |
| Leader | Sun Yat-sen(1923–1925) Chiang Kai-shek(1926–1927) |
| Dates of operation | January 26, 1923 (1923-01-26)–April 12, 1927 (1927-04-12) |
| Merger of |  Chinese Nationalist Party Chinese Communist Party |
| Country |  China |
| Allegiance |  Nationalist government |
| Motives | Chinese unification |
| Headquarters | Guangzhou |
| Anthem | "National Revolutionary Anthem" |
| Allies |  Soviet Union |
| Opponents | Beiyang government Empire of Japan |
Succeeded by Second United Front | |
TheFirst United Front[a], also known as theKMT–CCP Alliance[b], of theKuomintang (KMT) and theChinese Communist Party (CCP), was formed in 1923 as an alliance to endwarlordism in China. Together they formed theNational Revolutionary Army and set out in 1926 on theNorthern Expedition.
The CCP joined the KMT as individuals, making use of KMT's superiority in numbers to help spreadcommunism. The KMT, on the other hand, wanted to control the communists from within. Both parties had their own aims and the Front was unsustainable. In 1927, KMT leaderChiang Kai-shekpurged the Communists from the Front while the Northern Expedition was still half-complete. This initiated acivil war between the two parties that lasted until theSecond United Front was formed in 1936 to prepare for the comingSecond Sino-Japanese War.
Although its significance was not at first fully recognized by Chinese observers, theOctober Revolution would eventually have a profound effect on China.Sun Yat-sen and the Kuomintang's reaction to the news was immediately positive.[1] Sun Yat-sen calledVladimir Lenin a "great man", and indicated he wished to follow the same path that Lenin had.[2] However, this was unusual. It took other Chinese radicals such asChen Duxiu andLi Dazhao until after the end ofWorld War I for them to appreciate the Bolsheviks' radical departure from theFebruary Revolution.[3] By early 1920, however, they had become convinced of the efficacy of this new revolutionary and political model and were moving towards founding the CCP.[4]
The foreign policy of the newSoviet Union towards China was likewise extremely significant. According to orthodox Marxist theory, countries like China lacked the material conditions (such as a large proletariat) to successfully transition to socialism. However, Lenin argued inImperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism, that capitalism in the early twentieth century had become dependent on imperialist exploitation of the third world. Anti-imperialist movements had the potential of destabilizing the worldwide capitalist system and in that way could hasten the revolution where material conditions were right.[5] Thus, the early Soviet position on China was opposed to socialist revolution—in theSun-Joffe Manifesto, they formally agreed that China was not ready for "the Soviet system".[6] But they sought to encourage an anti-imperialist movement that included both "bourgeois nationalists" and the working class.[7] The Sun-Joffe Manifesto began a period of extensive aid to Sun Yat-sen and his movement. Soviet advisors helped Sun reorganize the Kuomintang along Leninist lines, making the party significantly more effective.[8] They founded theWhampoa military academy as well as a civil university to educate KMT cadres.[9]
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During the time of warlords, Sun Yat-sen kept the idea of a united Chinese republic alive. His goal was to establish a rival government inGuangzhou,southern China, and go from there to fight against the warlords in theNorth and theirBeiyang government. Upon his return from exile in 1917, Sun revived his banned nationalist party, the Kuomintang, but this time he gave it the new name, the Kuomintang of China. His plan was that after defeating the warlords the party would guide China until the country would be ready to move to democracy.
The rival government led by Sun, however, was at a disadvantage against the warlords from a military point of view. Despite his requests for aid from the West, badly needed financial and arms support never arrived in the country. In the 1920s the Kuomintang eventually received help from the RussianBolsheviks. Material aid from Russia was good enough for Sun, who had previously shown flexibility when the question was about the promotion of the republic. He had neither sympathy towardsMarxism nor did he see communism as a solution to China's problems. In Sun's view, China was not of the rich and the poor; rather, it was the country of the poor and the poorer. The guidelines of the Kuomintang were based on Sun's "Three Principles of the People":nationalism,democracy and the people's livelihood (socialism).
The Kuomintang gradually became a powerful and disciplined party under Russian guidance. The decisive factor was the Bolshevik's assistance to the Kuomintang in the formation of its own army, the National Revolutionary Army. In order to train the army theWhampoa Military Academy was established near Guangzhou. As its director, Sun appointed his loyal supporter Chiang Kai-shek. Financially the Whampoa Military Academy operated with the support of the Soviet Union. The quality of education was guaranteed by regularly visiting Russian officers. Many of the leaders of both the Kuomintang and the CCP graduated from the academy—the chief commander of thePeople's Liberation Army,Lin Biao, graduated from Whampoa, as didZhou Enlai, who later becamepremier of Communist China.
The First United Front was formed with the stated aim to help defeat the warlord threat (through the Northern Expedition of 1926–28), but both parties actually had ulterior motives with this alliance. The CCP formed it mainly so it could spread communism within the KMT and its members, while Chiang's aim was to control the CCP from the inside. Having said that, he was also the main reason the relationship fell apart, due to his desire to control the CCP, ultimately leading to the disintegration of the First United Front. After purging the Communists and Soviet advisors from Whampoa and his Nationalist army during the 1926 "Canton Coup", and following a series of armed workers strikes in 1926, and organized also byZhou Enlai in 1927,[10] Chiang went on to kill a large number of Communist forces in mid-1927, an event known as theShanghai massacre and which began theWhite Terror in China.[11]: 27–28 The massacre occurred about halfway through the Northern Expedition, ultimately ruining the First United Front and resulting in theChinese Civil War. The Civil War was later postponed when the two sides formed theSecond United Front to combat theJapanese in theSecond Sino-Japanese War.[citation needed]
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