cooperation of the Lefts and the Communists within the Kuomintang and within the national Government , of the consolidation of the unity of the Kuomintang and simultaneously an exposure and isolation of the Rightwing Kuomintang elements , of subjugating the Rights to the discipline of the Kuomintang , the utilisation of the Rights , their connections and their experience in so far as they are subject to the discipline of the Kuomintang or the expulsion of the Rights from the Kuomintang in so far as they break this discipline and betray the interests of the revolution . The subsequent events fully confirmed the correctness of this line . The powerful development of the peasant movement and the organisation of peasant unions and peasant committees in the countryside , the powerful strike-wave in the towns and the formation of Councils of Trade Unions , the victorious advance of the national troops on Shanghai , which was besieged by the navy and troops of the imperialists — all these and similar such facts testify to the fact that the line adopted was the only correct line .
Only this circumstance can explain the fact that the attempts of the Rights in February , 1927 , to split the Kuomintang and create a new centre in Nanchang suffered defeat in face of the united rebuff of the revolutionary Kuomintang in Wuhan .
But this attempt was an indication of the fact that a regrouping of class forces was taking place in the country , that the Rights and the national bourgeoisie were not keeping quiet and that they would intensify their work against the revolution .
The CC of the CPSU ( B ) was , therefore , right when in March , 1927 , it said that : “( a ) At the present moment , with the regrouping of class forces and the concentration of imperialist armies , the Chinese Revolution is living through a critical period and that its further victories are possible only if a definite line towards
20 development of the mass movement is adopted ;
( b ) It is necessary to take to the course of arming the workers and peasants , and converting the peasant committees in the localities into actual organs of power with armed self-defence ;
( c ) The Communist Party must not screen the treacherous and reactionary policy of the Rightwing Kuomintang elements and must mobilise the masses round the Kuomintang and the Chinese Communist Party for an exposure of the Rights .” ( March 3 , 1927 ) It can , therefore , be easily understood that in the future the powerful sweep of the revolution on the one hand , and the onslaught of the imperialists in Shanghai on the other , cannot but throw the Chinese national bourgeoisie into the camp of counter-revolution , while the seizure of Shanghai by the national troops and the strikes of the Shanghai workers cannot but unite the imperialists for stifling the revolution .
This was just what happened . The Nanking shootings served in this respect as a signal for a new demarcation of fighting forces in China . By the shooting in Nanking and by presenting ultimatums , the imperialists wanted to say that they were seeking the support of the national bourgeoisie for a common struggle against the Chinese Revolution .
By opening fire at workers ’ meetings and organising a coup , Chiang Kai-shek as though said in reply to the appeal of the imperialists that he was prepared to enter into a compromise with imperialists along with the national bourgeoisie against the workers and peasants of China . III
THE SECOND STAGE OF THE CHINESE REVOLUTION The coup of Chiang Kai-shek marks the departure of the national bourgeoisie from the revolution , the birth of a centre of national counterrevolution and a deal by the Right-wing
Kuomintang elements with imperialism against the Chinese Revolution .
Chiang Kai-shek ’ s coup signifies that in South China there will be henceforth two camps , two governments , two armies , two centres — the centre of revolution in Wuhan and the centre of counter-revolution in Nanking .
Chiang Kai-shek ’ s coup signifies that the revolution has entered the second stage of its development , that the turn has commenced from a revolution of a general and united national front to a revolution of the many millions of workers and peasants , to an agrarian revolution , which is intensifying and extending the struggle against imperialism , against the gentry and the feudal landlords , against the militarists and the counter-revolutionary group of Chiang Kai-shek .
This means that the struggle between the two- paths of revolution , between the adherents of its further development and the adherents of its liquidation , will become sharper from day to day , and cover the entire present period of revolution .
This means that the revolutionary Kuomintang in . Wuhan , by waging a resolute struggle against militarism and imperialism , will be converted in practice into an organ of the revolutionary democratic dictatorship of the proletariat and peasantry and the counter-revolutionary group of Chiang Kai-shek in Nanking , by breaking away from the workers and peasants and making a rapprochement with imperialism will share finally the fate of the militarists .
But from this it follows at the policy of preserving the unity of the Kuomintang , the policy of isolating the Right-wing elements within the Kuomintang and utilising them for the aims of the revolution has already ceased to correspond to the new tasks of the revolution . This policy must be substituted by a policy of a resolute expulsion of the Right-wing elements from the Kuomintang , a policy of a determined struggle against them
Class Struggle