| White Terror | |
|---|---|
| Part ofNanjing decade,Chinese Civil War,Chinese Communist Revolution | |
| Location | Republic of China |
| Date | 1927–1930s |
| Target | Chinese Communist Party, opposition, progressive dissidents |
| Perpetrators | Nationalist government,Kuomintang |
TheWhite Terror was ananti-communistpolitical repression campaign by theNationalist government in theRepublic of China which began with theShanghai massacre in April 1927 and continued through the early 1930s. Through theWhite Terror, the Nationalists and their allies targeted theChinese Communist Party (CCP),trade unionists,peasants, andwomen who they deemedprogressive. Estimates of those killed range from the hundreds of thousands to more than one million.
The Nationalists' White Terror ended theFirst United Front between the Nationalists and the CCP and nearly wiped out the CCP.
In 1927,Chiang Kai-shek and the Nationalists had developed sufficient military power such that Chiang believed the Nationalists no longer needed the support of theChinese Communist Party (CCP) and other revolutionary mass movements.[1]: 27
The White Terror began with theShanghai massacre by the Nationalists.[1]: 27 In March 1927, a CCP-led workers movement gained control of parts of Shanghai.[1]: 27 Chiang and the Nationalist Army were welcomed into the city later that month.[1]: 27 Breaking theFirst United Front, in April 1927, regular units of the Nationalist Army allied withcriminal triad organizations such as theGreen Gang began massacring CCP members, trade unionists, and others they contended were radical.[1]: 27
From 1927 to 1930, the White Terror killed from the hundreds of thousands[1]: 27 to more than one million people.[2]: 33 Women with short hair and natural (unbound) feet were presumed to be radical and became a specific target of the White Terror; Nationalist forces would often mutilate and display their corpses in an effort to cow people.[2]: 33
The CCP was nearly wiped out.[1]: 27 Its membership of 58,000 at the beginning of 1927 was reduced less than 10,000 by the year end.[1]: 28 Most of these lost members were killed in battle or summarily executed by the Nationalists; some also defected.[1]: 28 Surviving members dispersed intorural China; perceiving the defeat of the urban proletariat, they attempted to reorganize in whatMao Zedong termed "revolutionary base areas" to wage a "people's war" against theNationalist government, with a focus on the peasantry as the revolutionary class.[1]: 28–30 [3]: 47
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After the Nationalists began the White Terror in Shanghai, they expanded the repression campaign south of theYangtze and also intowarlord areas not previously under Nationalist control.[1]: 27
In early July 1927,Feng Yuxiang allied with Chiang to form a new government inShaanxi and implemented the White Terror there.[4]: 17 The Nationalist crackdown included a focus on eliminating the CCP presence in schools.[4]: 18 By September 1927, they had killed 496 people including students.[4]: 18 The CCP ordered itsShaanxi Provincial Committee to respond with peasant revolts.[4]: 18 These early responses failed and in March 1928 theWeihua Uprising began.[4]: 18 The Weihua Uprising was defeated in June 1928.[5]
In Shanghai, the CCP and the worker's movement were almost completely destroyed by the Shanghai massacre.[1]: 27
Among the victims of the White Terror inWuhan wasXiang Jingyu, one of the earliest female CCP leaders.[6]: 81
