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Clash of Worlds: The Comintern, British Hong Kong and Chinese Nationalism, 1921 – 1927

2005; Routledge; Volume: 57; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09668130500105258

1465-3427

Michael Share,

Cuban History and Society

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image size Acknowledgments The author wishes to thank the University of Hong Kong Faculty of Arts for a Hsu Long Sing Fellowship, which made this project possible. The author also wishes to express his deep appreciation to the following individuals and organisations for all their assistance: Steven Luk of the Chinese University Press of Hong Kong; his Moscow research assistants, Aleksei Dokuchaev and Olga Ivshina; the Moscow Office of the Davis Center for Russian Studies, Harvard University; and the Russian Consulate-General in Hong Kong. He also wishes to express his appreciation to P. M. Roberts, his colleague in the Department of History at the University of Hong Kong, for her numerous and detailed comments, as well as to the very kind and helpful archivists at RGASPI, AVP RF, RGAE, and the British PRO for their assistance during the past several years. Notes For further information on the Comintern see Fernando Claudin, The Communist Movement: From Comintern to Cominform (London, Penguin, 1975); Robert V. Daniels, A Documentary History of Communism, vol. 2 (Hanover, University Press of New England, 1984); and Kevin McDermott & Jeremy Agnew (eds), The Comintern: A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin (London, Macmillan, 1996). An excellent survey of Comintern activities in China is given in Michael Weiner, 'Comintern in East Asia, 1919 – 1939', in McDermott & Agnew (eds), The Comintern, pp. 158 – 190. Until the 1917 revolution Grigorii Voitinsky (1893 – 1953) lived in the United States and Canada. After the Bolshevik triumph he returned to Russia, joined the Communist Party and fought against White forces in Siberia. Voitinsky joined the Comintern in 1920 and was assigned to its Far Eastern Division. As its representative to China, during the 1920s he had three assignments in Peking and Shanghai, between which he served in Moscow as the Chief of the Comintern's Far Eastern Secretariat. In 1927 he returned to China, witnessing Jiang Jieshi's break with the Chinese Communist Party and subsequent massacre of Chinese Communists. After that crisis Voitinsky was recalled to Moscow, left the Comintern, and died a natural death in 1953. For further information on him and other Comintern figures see Branko Lazitch & Milorad Drachkovitch (eds), Biographical Dictionary of the Comintern (Stanford, Hoover Institution, 1973), pp. 429 – 430. Adolf Abramovich Ioffe (1883 – 1927) early on became a close ally of Trotsky, which he remained for the rest of his life. In June 1917 Ioffe joined the Communist Party, and was elected to the Central Committee and then to the Petrograd Military Revolutionary Committee, which organised the Bolshevik Revolution in that city. Afterwards Ioffe began a diplomatic career, and from 1922 to 1923 he served as the Soviet government's Ambassador to China. There Ioffe concluded the accord with Sun Zhongshan, and facilitated the alliance between the GMD and the CCP. After Trotsky's expulsion from the Communist Party in 1927 Ioffe committed suicide; see Lazitch & Drachkovitch (eds), Biographical Dictionary, pp. 165 – 166. The founding of the Chinese Communist Party and the reasons for the formation of the United Front are outside the bounds of this article. Details can be found in any good survey of modern Chinese history or the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Among the best in English are Immanuel C. Y. Hsu, The Rise of Modern China, 4th ed. (New York, Oxford University Press, 1990); Chang Kuo-T'Ao, The Rise of the Chinese Communist Party (Lawrence, University Press of Kansas, 1971); and Michael Y. L. Luk, The Origins of Chinese Bolshevism, 1920 – 1921 (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1990). Public Records Office (hereafter PRO), CO 129/492, 22 March 1926, 'Situation in Canton', pp. 122 – 162. Mikhail M. Borodin (1884 – 1951) joined the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1903, and immediately became close to the Bolshevik wing. When the Comintern was first organised in 1919 Borodin became its representative to the United States, then Mexico, then Germany and then Great Britain, where he was arrested in 1922 and sent to prison for six months. In September 1923 Borodin was sent to China as the Comintern representative to the CCP and the Soviet representative to Sun Zhongshan. Borodin played a crucial role in organising the United Front between the CCP and the GMD. Following the 1927 split Borodin was recalled to Moscow. Dropped from further Comintern activities, Borodin edited foreign language publications, and managed to survive Stalin's purges of the 1930s. However, in 1949 Borodin, now editor of the English language Moscow Daily News, was arrested and died in a camp two years later; see Lazitch & Drachkovitch (eds), Biographical Dictionary, p. 34. Russian Centre for the Preservation and Study of Documents of Contemporary History (hereafter RTsKhIDNI), now The Russian State Archive of Contemporary History (hereafter RGASPI), f. 514, op. 1, d. 50, 'Report of M. M. Borodin about the Situation in South China', p. 329. G. B. Endacott, A History of Hong Kong, rev. ed. (Hong Kong, Oxford University Press, 1973), p. 289. The 1921 census gave Hong Kong's population as 625,000, of whom 610,000 were Chinese. PRO, CO 129/457, 12 December 1919, 'Labour Conditions in Canton and Bolshevism in the Far East, December 1919', pp. 643 – 662. Ibid., pp. 643 – 656. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 26, Victor Chan, 'Report from Hong Kong written for the Comintern on the Contemporary Situation in China and Hong Kong', pp. 27 – 31. Ibid., p. 65. G. O. Khenyuoi & M. L. Titarenko (eds), Komintern i Kitai, Dokumenty, vol. 1, 1920 – 1925 (Moscow, Nauka, 1994), 'Telegram of A. A. Ioffe to L. M. Karakhan', 30 August 1922, p. 110. RGASPI, f. 495, op. 154, Comintern Files, 1921 – 1935, d. 233, 'Comintern Views of Hong Kong', p. 4. Ibid. See also Kit-ching Chan Lau, From Nothing to Nothing: The Chinese Communist Movement and Hong Kong 1921 – 1936 (London, Hurst & Company, 1999), pp. 27 – 36. Ibid., pp. 32 – 33. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 40, 'Letter from G. I. Safronov, head of the Far Eastern Section of the Comintern, to the Politburo of the CPSU', 4 April 1923, pp. 28 – 35. Curtis Keeble, Britain, the Soviet Union, and Russia (New York, St. Martin's Press, 2000), pp. 84 – 101; and Richard H. Ullman, The Anglo-Soviet Accord (Princeton, NJ, Princeton University Press, 1972). RGASPI, f. 627, op. 1, d. 4, 'Letter from L. M. Karahkan to M. M. Borodin', 13 February 1924, pp. 20 – 21. Keeble, Britain, the Soviet Union, and Russia, pp. 84 – 119. Sir Curtis Keeble was British Ambassador to the Soviet Union from 1978 to 1982. Russian State Economic Archive (hereafter RGAE), f. 7795, op. 1, d. 203, 'Report of Operations by the Soviet Trade Fleet (Sovtorflot) of its Activities in China in 1926', pp. 1 – 32. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 40, 4 April 1923, pp. 28 – 35. PRO, FO 371/10242, 1924, 'Shipment of Arms', p. 161. Chan, From Nothing to Nothing, p. 70. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 103, 'Report from Borodin about the Situation', 19 February 1924, p. 88. Frank Welsh, A History of Hong Kong (London, HarperCollins, 1993), p. 369. Ibid. PRO, FO 371/8030, 1922, pp. 44 – 45. Chan, From Nothing to Nothing, pp. 21 – 26. Ibid., pp. 57 – 63. Ibid., pp. 85 – 95. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 26, Lam Wai Man, 'Report on the Chinese Seamen's Movement to the Comintern', 1922, pp. 78 – 83. PRO, CO 129/512/2, 1929, pp. 11 – 31. Khenyuoi & Titarenko (eds), Komintern i Kitai, Dokumenty, 'From a Report of Di Lin to the Far Eastern Section of the Comintern', 20 May 1922, pp. 82 – 83. RGASPI, f. 495, op. 154, d. 233, 'Organisation Resolution passed by the Organisation Commission of the Transport Conference of the Orient', 23 June 1924, p. 31. Ibid., p. 32. Chan, From Nothing to Nothing, pp. 37 – 52. PRO, FO 371/12494, 1927, 'Survey of Russian – Chinese Relations', pp. 312 – 316. Archive of Foreign Policy of the Russian Foreign Ministry (hereafter AVP RF), f. 0100, op. 10, d. 32, pap. 15, 'Report from the Soviet Embassy in China to the Foreign Ministry, Moscow', 26 July 1926. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 350. 'Letter from V. I. Solov'ev to N. I. Bukharin', Moscow, March 1928, p. 347. PRO, FO 371/11679, 1926, p. 19. RGAE, f. 7795, op. 1, d. 203, 'Political Struggle between the Soviet Union and Britain in South China', 1926, p. 2. Ibid., pp. 16 – 17. RGAE, f. 7795, op. 1, d. 35, 1926, 'Report from the Far East regarding the Soviet Fleet in China', p. 243. PRO, CO 349/56063, 28 November 1924. The Soviet reports were in MID, with the details in the next footnote. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 8, pap. 12, 'Telegram from MID to Peking', September 1927, p. 30. AVP RF, f. 0100 (Ref-ra po Kitayu), op. 12, d. 96, pap. 155, 1923 – 1928, 'Letter to the Chinese Consul', 13 October 1927, Nikol'sk-Ussurisk, p. 6. Ibid., 'Consul of China in Nikol'sk-Ussurisk', 29 October 1927, p. 5. PRO, FO 371/10949, 1925, pp. 95 – 98. Ibid., p. 61. AVP RF, f. 0100 (Ref-ra po Kitayu), op. 11, d. 8, pap. 12, 19 May 1926, 'Report by Musin to MID'. PRO, CO 129/491, 23 September 1924, pp. 44 – 50. PRO, FO 371/10949, p. 50 Ibid., p. 66. Ibid., p. 168. PRO, CO 129/492, 22 March 1926, pp. 122 – 162. PRO, FO 371/120660, 1925, 'Report written by British Embassy employee Sir Ronald MacKay to Austen Chamberlain', p. 52. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 111, pap. 133, January – July 1926, Nikolai Rogachev, Moscow, pp. 7 – 9. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 88, pap. 130, 'Reports from the Soviet Consulate in Canton', 4 June – 6 December 1926, pp. 54 – 60. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 8, pap. 12, 19 May 1926. RGAE, f. 7795, op. 1, d. 203, 'Report of Operations by the Soviet Trade Fleet (Sovtorflot) of its Activities in China in 1926;' p. 29; and AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 136, pap. 147, 1927, 'Note from the Consul-General in Canton to Eugene Chan, Minister of Foreign Affairs, 14 March 1927', p. 129. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, por. 134, pap. 147, 'Letter from M. Rozengol'ts to Sir Austen Chamberlain', London, 12 April 1927, p. 2. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 88, pap. 130, 'Report from the Consul General of Canton to Ambassador Karakhan', 1 September 1926, pp. 74 – 76. PRO, FO 371/12494, 'Letter by G. Grindle of the Foreign Office', 14 June 1927, p. 323; and RGAE, f. 7795, op. 1, d. 203, 'Political Struggle Between Britain and the Soviet Union in South China', p. 15. Keeble, Britain, the Soviet Union and Russia, p. 110. Ibid., p. 100 Welsh, A History of Hong Kong. Hsu, The Rise of Modern China. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 123, 'Letter from F. F. Raskol'nikov to G. N. Voitinsky', Moscow, December 1925, pp. 213 – 216. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 2, 'Stalin Protocol', 3 December 1925. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 111, pap. 133, 'Letter from Chicherin to Stalin', Moscow, 14 May 1926. PRO, CO 129/497, 7 December 1926, 'Foreign Policy with Relation to Japan and Russia', pp. 423 – 438. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 111, pap. 133, 'Brief Reference to the March Events in Canton', 20 March 1926, pp. 7 – 9. Ibid., 'Further Description of March Events in Canton', p. 10. PRO, CO 129/499/3, 10 March 1927, 'Secret Service Report', pp. 2 – 9. Weiner, 'Comintern in East Asia, 1919 – 1939', pp. 170 – 173. RGASPI, f. 514, op. 1, d. 123, 'Letter from F. F. Raskol'nikov to G. N. Voitinsky', Moscow, December 1925, pp. 666 – 669. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 111, pap. 133, January – July 1926, 'Letter from Kisanok', 16 December 1925, pp. 4 – 6. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 88, pap. 130, 'Report by the Soviet Consul General in Canton to Karakhan'. Stalin criticised Ambassador Karakhan for being too moderate, and had him recalled to Moscow in 1926. Stalin wrote to Molotov on 26 September 1926: 'Don't give Karakhan his way on China. He has outlived his usefulness, and is entirely useless in the new current (revolutionary) situation. He is a person terribly limited'. In 1937 Karakhan was repressed. See 'Stalin to Molotov', 26 September 1926, letter 28 in Lars T. Lih, Oleg V. Naumov & Oleg V. Khlevniuk (eds), Stalin's Letters to Molotov, 1925 – 1936 (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1995), p. 130. RGASPI, f. 17, op. 162, d. 2, 'Protocol of the Politburo, no. 93, Central Committee, CPSU', signed by Stalin, 3 December 1925, pp. 202 – 205. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 10, d. 111, pap. 133, 'Extract of a Letter from Kisanok', Canton, 11 January 1926. Heinz Neumann (1902 – 1939) was a young activist in the German communist movement, who went to Moscow in 1922. While remaining active in the German Communist Party, Neumann became a member of the CPSU and the Comintern. In the struggle against Trotsky and Zinov'ev Neumann supported Stalin. Stalin sent Neumann to China in 1927, where he helped to organise the Guangzhou uprising in December. Despite his loyalty to Stalin, in 1937 Neumann was dismissed from all his Comintern and Communist Party posts and was arrested, dying in the Gulag; see Lazitch & Drachkovitch (eds), Biographical Dictionary, pp. 288 – 289. PRO, CO 129/493, 28 June 1926, pp. 138 – 154. 'Stalin Letter to Molotov and Bukharin', Letter 36, 9 July 1927, in Lih, Naumov & Khlevniuk (eds), Stalin's Letters to Molotov, pp. 139 – 142. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 136, pap. 147, 1927, 'Reaction to the Canton Uprising', pp. 10 – 11. PRO, CO 129/499, 10 March 1927, 'Secret Service Report', pp. 10 – 12. Arik Dirlik, 'The Guangzhou Uprising in Workers' Perspective', Modern China, 23, 4, October 1997, pp. 363 – 397. The quotation is taken from a diary entry of a teacher in Canton at that time, Earl Swisher, on 29 May 1927. Dirlik's well-researched article is based on Chinese and British sources, whereas this account focuses on Soviet archival materials and the additional perspective these provide. Chan, From Nothing to Nothing, pp. 78 – 82. Harold Isaacs, The Tragedy of the Chinese Revolution (1966), cited in Dirlik, 'The Guangzhou Uprising', pp. 369, 379. PRO, CO 129/508, 1928, 'Canton Situation', pp. 19 – 20. Ibid., p. 21. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 136, pap. 147, 'Reaction to the Canton Uprising', 1927, p. 20. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 12, d. 93, pap. 155, 'Destruction of the Soviet Consulate-General in Canton', 1928, pp. 10 – 29. After his return to Moscow, Consul General B. Pokhavalinsky filed his report to the Foreign Ministry. Ibid. PRO, CO 129/508/1, 1928, 'Canton Situation', p. 12. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 136, pap. 147, 'Telegram from the Soviet Consul General to Moscow', Hong Kong. Ibid., 'Reaction to the Canton Uprising', p. 24. PRO, FO 371/12494, 1927, 'Survey of Russian – Chinese Relations', pp. 323 – 347; and CO 129/508/1, 1928, 'Canton Situation', pp. 19 – 20. PRO, CO 129/508, 1928, 'Letter from Ian Maxton to W. G. Ormsby-Gore', Under Colonial Secretary, Hong Kong, p. 24. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 12, d. 93, pap. 155, 1928, Consul General Pokhvalinsky, 'Destruction of the Russian Consulate General in Canton', pp. 10 – 29. Ibid. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 136, pap. 147, 'Reaction to the Canton Rising', p. 21. AVP RF, f. 0100, op. 11, d. 8, pap. 12, 1927, p. 47. Dirlik, 'The Guangzhou Uprising', Modern China, p. 387. Chan, From Nothing to Nothing, pp. 95 – 104. PRO, CO 129/512/2, 1929, pp. 30 – 31.