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Progressive Party 進步黨 | |
|---|---|
| Chairman | Li Yuanhong |
| Founded | 29 May 1913 (1913-05-29) |
| Dissolved | 1916 |
| Merger of | Republican Party Democratic Party Unity Party |
| Succeeded by | Constitution Discussions Clique Constitution Research Clique |
| Ideology | Chinese nationalism Monarchism Conservatism Constitutionalism Statism Unitarism Faction: Conservative liberalism Classical liberalism[1] Liberalism (Chinese) |
| Political position | Right-wing |
TheProgressive Party (traditional Chinese:進步黨;simplified Chinese:进步党;pinyin:jìnbùdǎng;Wade–Giles:Chin-pu tang) was a political party in theRepublic of China from 1913 to 1916.
Chineseconstitutionalism was a movement that originated after theFirst Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895). A young group of intellectuals in China led byKang Youwei argued that China's defeat was due to its lack of modern institutions and legal framework which theSelf-Strengthening Movement had failed to deliver. They saw the recent rise of new powers such as Germany, Italy, and Japan coincide with their adoption of constitutions. By having a constitution as the basis for social and political organization, they surmise that all of China's ills could be repaired. Like theChinese Nationalists, these constitutionalists underwent many name changes after they first coalesced following the end of theHundred Days' Reform in 1898.
TheChinese Empire Reform Association (known as the "Baohuanghui" or "Protect the Emperor Society" in Chinese) was formed inVictoria,Canada on 20 July 1899 byKang Youwei andLiang Qichao, the Hundred Days' Reformers who were exiled after the palace coup byEmpress Dowager Cixi. The Emperor they referred to was theGuangxu Emperor. In August 1900, they sponsoredTang Caichang's uprising inHankou which failed disastrously and forced them to rethink their strategy. Also known as the Reform Association, they had to compete with their fellow outlaws, theTongmenghui ("Revolutionary Alliance") led bySun Yat-sen for influence and money in theOverseas Chinese community. The Baohuanghui's platform wasconstitutional monarchy and peaceful reform while the Tongmenghui wanted republic and revolution. In this respect, the Baohuanghui was more popular due to the traditional cultural mindset that abhorred disorder. Liang's support for peaceful reform was not consistent, he vacillated between violence and reform often.
In 1908, both the Emperor and Cixi had died. The group renamed itself in Chinese as the "Empire Constitutionalist Association" (帝國憲政會) (the English name was not changed), often referred to as the Constitutionalist Party (憲政黨), and was allowed to operate in China. They helped the Qing court set up provincial assemblies and aNational Assembly in 1910. They were, however, deeply disappointed that the assemblies existed to give advice only. In addition, the Qing court's draft constitution was a near word for word copy of Japan'sMeiji Constitution with the exception that the Emperor was given significantly more power. The new cabinet system consisted of members from theAisin Gioro clan, making it more nepotistic than before. After a brief period as the "Empire Unity Party" (帝国统一党), on 4 June 1911 they became known as the Friends of the Constitution (憲友會). The Constitutionalist party was the first legally registered political party in China.
During theWuchang Uprising, the first politician to side with the mutineers wasTang Hualong, a Constitutionalist and leader of theHubei provincial assembly, who took over the civilian administrative side of the revolution. Fed up with years of frustration, many Constitutionalists joined the1911 Revolution, one noticeable exception wasKang Youwei who remained loyal to EmperorPuyi.
In 1912, Liang returned to China and the party renamed itself as theDemocratic Party. It came in fourth in theNational Assembly elections behind the Nationalist,Republican, andUnity Parties.
The Democrats merged with the Republican Party and the Unity Party to form the Progressive Party (進步黨) on 29 May 1913; together they had 223 seats in the Assembly. The Republicans were largely financed by Provisional PresidentYuan Shikai, who was not an actual party member. They were an ultranationalist and militarist party.[citation needed] Unity was led byZhang Binglin and represented the interests of the civil service andgentry. All three parties had advocated a strong, centralized national government, with some wanting to abolish provincial and local divisions altogether. Vice PresidentLi Yuanhong was made party chairman but real leadership was in the hands of Liang Qichao. The party's platform was nationalism with strong central government, liberty through therule of law, and peaceful foreign policy. As the second largest party, it portrayed the rival Nationalists as supporters ofmob rule.
The Progressives supported Yuan against the failedSecond Revolution but objected to the outlawing of the Nationalist Party since only some of its members took part. The expulsion of the Nationalists led to the Assembly losing itsquorum so Yuan disbanded it altogether which was also fiercely opposed by the Progressives.
When Yuan tried tocrown himself emperor, Liang convincedYunnan's military governor,Cai E, to lead theNational Protection War against Yuan. Liang reconciled the war with the party's antirevolutionary stance by arguing that the war was not a revolution but an effort to put down Yuan's rebellion against the constitutional republic. Progressive Party branches across the country agitated for the overthrow of Yuan and the party's membership expanded greatly. Yuan's government became paralyzed and he abandoned his scheme. The party's leadership, however, was split into pro- and anti-Yuan factions, thus causing its collapse.
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After Yuan's death,Li Yuanhong became President and the National Assembly convened again. The party split into two factions: the Constitution Research Clique led by Liang and the Constitution Discussions Clique led byTang Hualong. Liang supported PremierDuan Qirui's plan to push China intoWorld War I on theAllied side against the wishes of President Li in hopes of regaining lost territories. When the Assembly was dissolved again during theManchu Restoration (of whichKang Youwei took part) some ex-Progressives joined Sun Yat-sen'sConstitutional Protection Movement. Liang and his followers refused to join because they felt a rival government was harmful to China's national integrity and that the movement was itself unconstitutional because it was a military government.
After reuniting with Tang's faction, Liang ran what was left of his party as the Research Clique (研究系) in the1918 elections for a new assembly but placed a distant third behind Duan'sAnfu Club andLiang Shiyi'sCommunications Clique. Tang was assassinated inVictoria, British Columbia on 1 September by a rogue member of theChinese Revolutionary Party. Shortly after theParis Peace Conference, Liang retired from politics but the Research Clique was still influential inBeiyang government politics until theBeijing coup in 1924.Mao Zedong called them "non-revolutionary democrats".
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Minus Liang, several members in 1927 created the Democratic Constitutionalist Party (民主憲政黨) but they were based in theUnited States so they had very little influence in Chinese politics. Within China,Carsun Chang started the 1931 National Renaissance Society (再生社) which was succeeded by the 1932 China National Socialist Party (中國國家社會黨) which mixed Liang's reformism with Sun Yat-sen'sThree Principles of the People. They were upset thatChiang Kai-shek's rule was apersonalistic dictatorship and that the Nationalists had ignored their democratic principles. Opposing both the Nationalists and theChinese Communist Party, they aimed to be the third force in Chinese politics, so they created an umbrella group of small democratic parties called theChina Democratic League. The CDL pushed for the long delayed constitution and reconciliation between the Communists and Nationalists especially after theNew Fourth Army Incident.
When the CDL became increasingly pro-Communist, the National Socialists withdrew and merged with the Democratic Constitutionalists on 15 August 1946 to form theChina Democratic Socialist Party. They fled toTaiwan at the end of theChinese Civil War and along with the Nationalists and theChinese Youth Party, were the only legal parties for decades. In Taiwan, they offered the same soft criticisms they have been giving since their earliest incarnations. The Democratic Socialists lost all their seats in theLegislative Yuan and National Assembly after free and fair elections began in the 1980s. Within thePeople's Republic of China, theChina Democratic League continues to exist as part of theUnited Front.
