Note on the 1927 White Terror Incident

The “White Terror” incident during the spring of 1927, epitomized as the 4-12 Incident(四·一二事件) has lead to several explanations. In Chang Jung’s version, it attributes the main cause to the Beijing Warlord, Zhang Zuolin’s(張作霖) raid upon Russian compound in Beijing, therefore exposed the COMINTERN’s treacherous and methodical intrigue to subvert and sovietize China. (The Reds’ godfather, Li Dazhao(李大釗) was among the ones being arrested, and was soon liquidated in his jail-cell upon Zhang’s order.) Whereas in Jonathan Fenby’s version, it didn’t address this issue at all, and seems to indicate that the great purge was preplanned to rid the KMT of Red faction, therefore it was a move towards consolidating Chiang’s control.

In order to formulate a credible explanation for this crucial event, one has to zoom-out his perspective to a higher and wider context, thus encompasses the whole scope for one to gain a comprehensive reckoning of the turbulent time it was staged in:

It was carried out in the midst of Northern Expedition (北伐)(1926-1928) by the KMT to unite China and rid her from warlord factionists. At the time China was still mired in a fragmented state with sectarian powers vying for dominance. On top of this, there were tremendous amount of pressure from international wire pullers, most notably the Russians and the Japanese, the former laid their Trojan Horse, the proxy CCP inside the KMT as a prerequisite for Soviet aid, and the latter whose unquenchable lust for expansionism into China poses as a constant threat. All of these menacing factors demand someone with a messianic might and a steel of resolution to redeem China out of her quagmires, and for a long time, Chiang felt he was to fill in this role, and any obstacle and cacophony was to be dealt with relentlessly. Like all Chinese rulers before him and after him, he saw internal unity as more essential than external danger.

Within the global arena, it was also the most turbulent heydays of Communist propagation worldwide. Many people, most notably from the blue-collar masses, were enchanted by the myth of Bolshevik Revolution, and sought after similar revolutionary victory in their own country led by all shades of daredevils. The 1920’s was a watershed stage, in which the ideological struggle and the philosophical divide between the Left and the Right was polarized to the most extremes, thus laid in an ever odious hatred by both parties who vowed for the elimination of the other. This vendetta was inevitable and it was just a question of when.

Therefore, Chiang, whose intuition was to prove accurate of Communist treachery and machination, felt oblige to eliminate the Reds, and it was better to nip it out of the bud, before it grew too ferocious to deal with. It was a desideratum at the time, and if one is to play with fire, one is sure to be advised with the consequences, all of which the CCP was proved to be a master at, and seemed to be long prepared for. the incident in turn had precipitated the Nanchang Soviet mutiny on Aug 1st(八一南昌起義), and the September Autumn Harvest Uprising(秋收起義) of the same year.