Friday, July 2, 2021

The Chinese Communist Party and the Guomintang in the 1920s

Steve Smith has an article on the early history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which celebrates the 100th anniversary of its founding with lots of official fanfare this year, on the democratic-socialist website Jacobin, 100 Years of the Chinese Communist Party 07/01/2021. Smith recounts the course of the CCP from its founding in 1921 to 1927.

It gives a helpful summary of the cooperation and competition during that period in the "united front" of the Communist Party (CCP) and the Guomintang (GMT) headed by Chiang Kai-shek (also written as Kuomintang, KMT). It was complicated and often ugly. In the end, of course, the CCP took power in most of China by defeating the GMT, which was left with its stronghold in Taiwan.

He also describes how Soviet policy via the Comintern (Communist International) even in the 1920s involved a mutual influence between the GMT-CCP politics in China and internal Soviet politics.

CNN provides this historical timeline from 1921-2021, 100 years of the Chinese Communist Party by Ben Westcott 07/01/2021. Critical reading is always in order with CNN as well as Jacobin. And all other sources, for that matter.

For stodgily respectable historical accounts to double mainstream press accounts, Britannica Online provides a decent quick check. (Critical reading still applies!)

See also: Helen Davidson, Xi Jinping warns China won’t be bullied in speech marking 100-year anniversary of CCP Guardian 07/01/2021.

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