A prequel/sequel/companion to
The Second Sino-Japanese War
Liao Zhongkai was a Chinese politician and leader of the Kuomintang. In 1905, he first became involved with political activism, joining the Tongmenghui engaging in opposition to the Qing Dynasty. Later, after the Republic of China was established, he joined Sun Yat Sen's Kuomintang, and by the 1920s rose to the rank of Minister of Finance. During the warlord era, he was an advocate for maintaining close relations and cooperation with the Soviet Union and Chinese Communist Party. When Sun Yat Sen died in 1925, Zhongkai succeeded him as Chairman of the Kuomintang, leader of the party. His continued advocacy for cooperation with the communists generated some opposition from the right of the Kuomintang, - the implication of major right-wing factional leader Hu Hanmin in the failed assassination attempt on Zhongkai in 1925, however, helped Zhongkai and the left-wing faction strengthen their position at the expense of the right-wing faction in the latter half of the 20s
Under Zhongkai, the territory under the control of the Kuomintang and allies saw the beginning of political and social reforms, as well as economic development, in part supported by the USSR. Zhongkai's primary focus, however, was on the building of the National Republican Army, with cooperation from the Soviets and Chinese Communists. The Kuomintang at this time was confined to territory in the south of China, with the Zhili and Fengtian warlord factions vying for power in the central and northern regions of power. Zhongkai and the Kuomintang sought to change this, and in 1926 initiated the Northern Expedition, with the National Republican Army, Communist forces, and some allied warlords like the Kuominchun joining forces to defeat the Zhili and Fengtian. By the start of fall, 1926, Zhongkai's United Front had captured Wuhan, by early 1927 Nanjing and Shanghai had been captured, and by late 1927 Beijing had fallen to the coalition, with Fengtian warlord
Zhang Xueliang accepting the overlordship of the new central government
With the end of the Northern Expedition, China was unified on paper. But in reality, much of China was under the control of warlords who swore allegiance to the central government but had some degree of autonomy in theory in practice, with the central government having varying degrees of authority and influence over the warlords depending on various different circumstances. Even in the territory under the control of the central government (initially Jiangsu, Anhui, Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Hubei, as well as some parts of neighboring provinces), authority was somewhat muddled, with Zhongkai and the Kuomintang being the leaders in Najing on paper and often in practice too, but with the Communist Party often acting as something of a state within a state and also extending growing influence inside the Kuomintang as well as more directly in the cities and countryside of both the territories of the central government and areas among some warlords' territories. Nonetheless, despite the awkwardness of the United Front and matters of the warlords, China was in a much more peaceful and stable state than it had been in for the past decade and a half, and saw significant developments in economic growth, construction of infrastructure, building of institutions, improvements in education, and political and social reform, as well as further growth and improvement of the military forces, and continued cooperation with and aid from the Soviet Union, as well as investment and economic involvement with other European countries and the United States
The assassination attempt on Liao Zhongkai in 1925 failed, but did seriously wound him, and leave him with chronic pain for the rest of his life. Largely due to this, he would step down from his position as head of the Kuomintang in early 1929, at which point Wang Jingwei succeeded him as Chairman
By that time, the left wing faction of the Kuomintang had solidly cemented itself in control of the party, in part with help from the Communist party. After the imprisonment of Hu Hanmin, there had been some speculation that the NRA general Chiang Kai Shek, another prominent leader of the right wing faction of the Kuomintang, might eventually try to take control of the Party, and this speculation elevated during the initial stages of the Northern Expedition, with his command of the armies that took Nanjing. This speculation was silenced, however, shortly after the capture of Nanjing, when a Zhili agent managed to assassinate Chiang. With the death of their most prominent leader, the right wing faction of the Party went into terminal decline, remaining a force, but increasingly falling into factional struggles among itself without a clear leader. So when Zhongkai stepped down, there was little doubt that Jingwei would succeed him
The early years of Wang Jingwei's Chairmanship were not a marked departure from the governance of Liao Zhongkai. Jingwei was himself of the left wing of the party, and his early sympathies towards communism and communists were strengthened during and after the Northern Expedition, due to his appreciation of the communist military aid, and the successes of cooperation with the Communist Party as well as Soviet developmental aid and advisors after the Northern Expedition. As such, Jingwei continued the policy of the United Front. Even as the Communist Party grew in influence and eventually became the dominant power in China, Jingwei largely remained on cordial terms, there is some scholarly debate regarding the extent that these cordial relations in the middle and latter parts of his Chairmanship were due to genuine ideological shifts on the part of Jingwei vs pragmatism and political calculation
Eugene Chen was a Chinese Trinidadian lawyer and politician. Born in Trinidad, the child of immigrants, he became a prominent lawyer in the Islands. He later moved to London, where he met Sun Yat Sen, and was eventually convinced by him to move to China, to contribute his legal skills to the newly declared Republic of China. There, he became involved in politics, becoming a close advisor to Sun on foreign policy issues as well as a prominent diplomat, and taking a strong anti-imperialist stance
In 1927, as part of the reforms enacted after the end of the Northern Expedition, the position of President of the Republic of China was established/re-established/made official [idk, wikipedia has a list of presidents of the republic of China, but the ones before Chiang Kai-Shek are listed as "provisional" or "acting"]. There was some debate, between the Communists and Kuomintang, on who would be President, as well as to what the powers of the President would be - in the end, Eugene Chen was chosen for President, though with little established powers by this point (indeed, at this point, the broader scope and form of the Nanjing Government, even inside the central government territory, was more de facto than de jure, a matter under discussion but not decided on). Eugene Chen would ultimately be something of a figurehead as President, though a respected one, and is remembered for his role in diplomacy with negotiating for an end to foreign concessions
Chen Duxiu was a Chinese revolutionary and politician, the first leader of the Communist Party of China, and the first President of the Socialist Republic of China. During the nearly two decades of his Party leadership, China underwent major changes, in which he played a major role
In the early 1920s, Chen was able to secure cooperation with the Kuomintang, led by Sun Yat Sen (himself a revolutionary with socialistic ideals that didn't quite veer into Marxism but nonetheless helped establish an ideological common ground). This cooperation would continue after the death of Sun, and was an opportunity for the Communist Party to expand its influence (both in China as a whole and among the Kuomintang itself, which had a large left-wing faction with many who had at least some degree of sympathy with the communists, if not outright agreement), an opportunity Chen was eager to take. As the 20s progressed, the Communist Party expanded its influence in both the urban and rural areas of China, growing popular with its calls for societal change and anti-imperialism, and also gradually increasing its military wing, which was outnumbered by the National Republican Army but nonetheless would perform to distinction in the Northern Expedition. The Northern Expedition also saw instances like the Shanghai Commune, where a worker's uprising resulted in effective Communist Party control over much of the city, a situation which was tolerated (albeit with some complaints and right-wing opposition) by the Kuomintang after the completion of the Northern Expedition
By the start of the 1930s, Chen Duxiu had established the Communist Party as a competent and capable force in China, and sought to further expand, among other things managing to ascend after some political maneuvering to the position of President in early 1931, succeeding Eugene Chen. At the same time, Japan was increasing their interest in China, being rather disturbed first by the relative unity and development that China was undergoing, and then with the rise of the Communist Party in China, and with an open communist having such a prominent role in the Chinese government. In September, the Japanese military began operations in Manchuria, seeking to expand their influence and bring the Fengtian warlords back into alignment with Japan. But Japan had underestimated China, and overestimated the ability for the right-wing opposition they funded to put up a credible fight against the left-wing Nanjing government - the few right-wing KMT uprisings that occured largely fizzled out, having little success competing with the communists for rural support, and being quickly beaten down by the central government forces. The Japanese forces in the north were initially able to make large gains in Manchuria, but the arrival of the National Republican Army, the Red Army, and the forces of various warlords allowed the Chinese forces to stabilize the front in Manchuria. The Japanese forces tended to be better trained and equipped than the Chinese forces, but the Chinese forces had strength on their side, as well as some decently experienced forces from the Northern Expedition, and were also aided first by significant material support from the Soviet Union, and then by direct intervention. Japan had bitten off more than it could chew - in 1934 the Chinese forces captured Pusan, and pushed the Japanese forces off the continent altogether. The political shock of defeat triggered a coup in Japan - the new pro-peace government would not last long, falling to a militarist coup itself by the end of the 1930s, but nonetheless sued for peace with China and the USSR, granting China all territories lost since the Treaty of Shimonoseki, granting the USSR Sakhalin and the Kuriles, and giving up control of Korea. In the aftermath of the victory, and with the public support that came from it, Chen Duxiu and the Communist Party took more direct control, declaring the Socialist Republic of China, and establishing the client Socialist Republic of Korea as well
Now in control, Chen Duxiu broadly pursued a pragmatic agenda that left him at odds with some among his party as well as with the Soviet Union. He sought to expand the central government's control over China at the expense of the warlords, but despite the wishes of some among the Communists (and some among the Kuomintang), he took a gradual approach to this, using diplomacy more than force, and offering generous pensions and estates for warlords who agreed to surrender more quickly, or allowing them different roles in the new government, in cases like Yan Xishan of Shanxi and Feng Yuxiang of the Guominjun, neither of whom were doctrinaire Marxists but both of whom were broadly socialistic in ideals. Chen himself was committed to Marxism, but saw a gradual approach as being necessary, agreeing with Lenin's reasoning for the "New Economic Policy" (NEP) and pursuing similar policy during his leadership of China in the hopes of establishing a more sturdy foundation for future development of socialism, disagreeing with Stalin's abandonment of the NEP and more rapid collectivization which he considered to have contributed to avoidable famines in the USSR. Furthermore, while Chen and the Chinese Communist Party were more than willing to use authority in the name of revolution, establishing the Party as a vanguard privileged with power and excluding opposition from access to power, Chen was critical of the excesses of Soviet authority under Stalin as well as Stalin's backsliding on issues like patriarchy, and Chen and the Party would take a rather softer and more cautious approach to authority, allowing a rather more free and open society, even allowing the Kuomintang to exist as a separate party (albeit as something of a semi-autonomous satellite party rather than anything that had any ability to take power itself).
Due to these disagreements and others, Soviet accusations of Chinese 'deviationism', and vice versa, were not uncommon in the 1930s, though the rise of fascism in Europe and resurgence of Japanese militarism ensured that the USSR and China, even with stormy relations, remained somewhat cooperative and at least on speaking terms, with relations improving as the two countries saw things deteriorate elsewhere. Communist opinions on Chen Duxiu in his own time were rather divided, with some considering him to be a deviationist while others considered him to be a more proper predecessor to Lenin than Stalin was. In the modern era, in light of the differing ways that China and the USSR evolved, leftist opinions tend considerably towards the latter
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(I had initially intended this to be a rather shorter thing, and also less complicated, just going off suggestions from the earlier post to have Wang Jingwei be the leader after Sun Yat Sen died and then having Chen Duxiu become leader sometime before the Second Sino-Japanese War of this scenario. Also I didn't expect to make nearly as much write-up. But then I did a bit of looking into the Chinese politicians of the time, and found that the guy who was leader of the Kuomintang right after Sun OTL (Zhongkai) was himself a leftist who supported cooperation with the USSR and CPC, who just happened to be assassinated shortly after he became leader. So I changed things up a bit, just having him not die in the assassination, and went from there. I am by no means an expert on warlord era Chinese politics, so I can't really say that this scenario is necessarily the most plausible, but I enjoyed making it nonetheless)