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Consultation among various parties for China's revitalization
The resistance against Japanese aggression and democracy wasindivisible and must be combined together, which was also the aspirationof the extensive middle-of-the-roaders in the Kuomintang controlledareas. But the Kuomintang didn't represent and echo the aspiration of themiddle-of-the-roaders.
At the fourth meeting of the first National Political Assembly inSeptember 1939 attended by representatives of the Kuomintang, theCommunist Party of China and other parties as well as non-partymembers, one side consisted of representatives from the Communist Partyof China and middle-of-the-road parties and the other side consisted onlyof Kuomintang representatives. They debated publicly and finally passeda resolution that mainly reflected the will of the middle-of-the-roadersand called for the end of the one-party rule of the Kuomintang and theimplementation of democratic constitutionalism. But the Kuomintangintentionally delayed the execution with the excuse of chaotic trafficduring wartime.
Soon after the end of the National Political Assembly, the Kuomintanglaunched the South Anhui Incident in early 1941, in which more than 9,000soldiers in the New Fourth Army and its affiliated South Anhui troop werebesieged and attacked by Kuomintang troops. Some 2,000 of the soldiersbroke out but the rest were captured, went missing or were killed. Thearmy commander Ye Ting was detained without cause. The national unitedfront against Japanese aggression was in danger of collapse.
After the South Anhui Incident, the middle-of-the-roaders were notscared but showed stronger aspiration to cooperate with the CommunistParty of China. Right after the incident, the National Liberation ActionCommittee sent representatives including Zhang Bojun to hold officialtalks with representatives of the Communist Party of China includingZhou Enlai, Dong Biwu and Ye Jianying. During the talks, they reiteratedtheir sincerity to cooperate with the Communist Party of China and askedfor actual assistance in programme, organization, publicity and funds fromthe Communist Party of China.
Leaders of the Communist Party of China, including Zhou Enlai,agreed with the proposal and request of the middle-of-the-road parties andwere also willing to offer actual help. With the support of the CommunistParty of China, the National Liberation Action Committee once againsent representatives, including Zhang Bojun, to negotiate with HuangYanpei from the Vocational Education Society, Liang Suming from theRural Construction Party, Zhang Junli from the National Socialist Partyand Zuo Shunsheng from the Youth Party on multiple occasions, whichled to the decision of reorganizing the United Comrade Society intoChinese Democratic Political League, the birth of which, to some extent,was the result of the cooperation between the Communist Party of Chinaand various middle-of-the-road parties. This was a major reason why theDemocratic Political League cooperated with the Communist Party ofChina for a long time.