The Canton Insurrection
Stages of The Chinese Revolution
Trotsky describes the various stages that the 1925-7 Chinese Revolution passed through. The first stage was that of the domination of the national bourgeoisie, represented by the KMT of Chiang Kai Shek, and presented, by the Stalinists, apologetically, as the “bloc of four classes”. It came to an end with Chiang Kai Shek's coup. The second stage was that represented by the alliance with the “Left” Kuomintang of Wang Chin Wei, and its government in Wuhan. Trotsky describes this as “an experiment in parallel and “independent” domination by Chinese Kerenskyism.” (p 122)
In Russia, in 1917, the Popular Front, Provisional Government, existed in conditions of dual power, alongside the workers and peasants soviets. It only existed by the grace of the soviets that had real power on the streets (the soviets represented a United Front in action). But, in China, Stalin had forbidden the creation of soviets, as representing a challenge to the bourgeois-democracy, represented by the Wuhan government.
“And inasmuch as history in general does not work to order, there is nothing left for us but to understand that there is not and that there will not be any other “democratic” dictatorship than the one exercised by the Guomindang since 1925.” (p 122)
The soviets, in 1917, were in place to supersede the Provisional Government, when it had outlived its usefulness, and demonstrated, in practice, that it was not up to the task set for it by history of bringing about the bourgeois-democratic revolution (Permanent Revolution). That task could, now, only be fulfilled by the proletariat, and so the bourgeois revolution was subsumed within the proletarian revolution, and The Dictatorship of the Proletariat Leading The Peasantry, as exercised by the soviets. Its expression was the Bolshevik demand, “All Power To The Soviets”. But, in China, that path had been cut off by Stalin's subordination of the proletariat to the national bourgeoisie, and the opposition to creating soviets.
“But precisely when the class dialectics of the revolution, having spent all its other resources, put on the order of the day the dictatorship of the proletariat, with the numberless millions of oppressed and downtrodden of town and country on its side, the ECCI advanced the slogan of the democratic dictatorship (that is, bourgeois democracy) of the workers and peasants. The reply to this formula was the Canton insurrection which, lifted the curtain over a new stage, or, more correctly, over with all its prematurity, with all the adventurism of its leaders, the coming, the third Chinese revolution. This must be emphasized.” (p 122-3)
The mistake made echoes of the mistakes made in the 1923 German Revolution, of first acting too slowly, in the period of revolutionary upswing, and, then, having allowed it to slip by, of substituting revolutionary phrase-mongering and bureaucratic adventurism, in calls for General Strikes and so on, for it.
“Trying to insure themselves against the sins of the past, the leaders criminally forced the trend of events at the end of last year and brought about the Canton miscarriage.” (p 123)
The events were significant, Trotsky says, because they represented a rare example of a laboratory experiment to test the hypotheses of Marxist science.
“We paid for it dearly, but that makes it all the more imperative for us to digest the lessons.” (p 123)
The revolt took place under banners proclaiming “Down With The Kuomintang!”, but this was woefully late, coming only after the Kuomintang had undertaken its coup, and, up to which point, the Stalinists had been giving it their full support, and attacking the Opposition for warning it was coming. Indeed, not just after the coup of Chiang, but also the betrayal by Wang China Wei, and the “Left” Kuomintang.
“not a betrayal of his class, but of our illusions”. (p 123)
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