Micheal Markovich Borodin And The National Revolution Of China

As the most important consultant of the Central Committee Political Bureau of the Soviet Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) in China, Michael Markovich Borodin played a vital role in the first KMT-CPC (Kuomintang-Communist Party of China) cooperation and even in the historical process of the national revolution. He promoted the completion of the reorganization of Kuomintang, and realized the first KMT-CPC cooperation which provided CPC a practical platform to carry out the new democratic revolution. Although the reorganized Kuomintang presented an alliance of all revolutionary classes in the composition, it still kept the basic color of a bourgeois political party. Borodin knew the complexity of Kuomintang very well, therefore, he had prepared in his mind to strengthen the left wing at the beginning in order to watch out the right wing and finally defeat it. He took the persisting of pro-Soviet Union, anti-imperialism and developing the national revolution as the greatest common divisor. Moreover, in the changing situation, he united and developed the left wing force, stabilized and won the middle force, excluded and struck the right wing force, and maintained and persisted the united front of KMT-CPC cooperation to the end.The KMT-CPC cooperation was realized in the form of communists joining in the Kuomintang as individuals, which was the combined result of theories and strategies of the Soviet Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) and the Communist International and the reality of China at that time. In spite of its necessities and feasibilities, there were obvious limitations in this form. When the goal of overthrowing the warlords was going to achieve, and the power of CPC was gradually growing in the revolution, with the radicalization of Communist International strategies, the CPC demanded to substantially promote the land revolution, establish the worker-peasant revolutionary armed forces, reform the Kuomintang upper body, guide the Chinese revolution to the non-bourgeois direction under the circumstance of the KMT-CPC cooperation, whereas these demands could not be accepted by the Kuomintang authorities. The revolutionary situation had been drastically turned, so the pattern of KMT-CPC cooperation should have correspondingly changed and made timely breakthrough in the cooperative framework. However, the Soviet Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) and the Communist International didn’t make the timely changes. In that case, Borodin continued to cooperate with Wuhan Kuomintang and abandoned those radical policies. Nevertheless, his efforts could not solve the practical problems.Borodin helped Kuomintang establish the idea of "ruling armies by a party" and set up the National Revolutionary Army in the Soviet Union Red Army mode. In addition, he participated in the plan of building Huangpu Military Academy and partook in suppressing Guangzhou Business Group rebellion. He played an active role in the northern expedition of National Revolutionary Army and advocated to solve the peasant problems in the northern expedition in order to get rid of the shackles of feudal landlord land ownership. In this period, the Soviet Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) and Stalin paid great attention to helping Chinese revolutionary camp establish armed forces, and put the accent on Kuomintang and National Government, whereas the communists only played the part as political workers. Although Stalin ordered Borodin to arm the workers and peasants, Borodin did not find conditions to fulfill that.Borodin involved in the regime construction of Kuomintang and practiced the policy of "ruling a nation by a party". The moment the Central Political Committee of Kuomintang was established, his consultant role in Kuomintang was transferred to the new platform. After the establishment of the National Government, the Central Political Committee became the policymaking body in Kuomintang government. Borodin participated in the transformation of Kuomintang regime from Grand Marshal individual decision making to committee collegial system, and he was involved in the decision making of establishing the National Government in the Political Committee. Moreover, he drafted and examined a series of regulations and telegrams about regime and government affairs, and advanced important proposals about government personnel arrangements. Besides, Borodin mastered the international trends, and provided the timely diplomatic advices to the National Government. AfteT the Third Plenary Session of the Second Kuomintang Central Executive Committee, Borodin mapped out a strategy to make a substantial mechanism in the National Government and enable communists to join the government. Communists’involvement in the National Government and the opening of the KMT-CPC Joint Meeting reflected the party alliance.Borodin grasped the importance of land revolution from history and current situation of China at that time, repeatedly emphasized that the Chinese revolution could finally succeed only if the land problem of the peasants was completely solved. His understanding of the land problem in China was partly based on the revolutionary theories of Communist International and Russian revolutionary experience. Facing the reality that the peasants spontaneously solved the land problem with the further development of peasant movement, he proposed to realize the transfer of political power at the basic level through the peasants’village autonomy as the guarantee of land revolution, also, he advocated to take care of the interests of the allies in confiscating and distributing. Compared to the mass carnival land revolution of unconditional confiscation and irregular distribution, Borodin’s plan seemed conservative, but practically feasible. The peasants’ land revolution could not be carried out smoothly without the guarantee of regime and armies as well as institutions and regulations.Revolution is the cause of millions of people. People’s devotion to the revolution is conditioned by their awareness of revolution. Before arriving in China, Borodin knew nothing about the country. As a stranger, he always enhanced his understanding of Chinese history, especially Chinese people’s struggle against imperialism and feudalism in the modern history, as well as his understanding of the national situation and culture of China. He took the task of awakening the people as one of his most important missions; therefore, he conducted propaganda and delivered speeches everywhere, which left a deep impression in people’s hearts.Borodin had a strong background of the Soviet Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) and the Soviet Union government, but his consultant position and the nature of his work determined that he had to carefully deal with the important members of both Kuomintang and CPC all the time. Implementing the decisions and intentions of Moscow required to consider the reality in China and overcome various difficulties in the operation. Knowing that, Borodin paid great attention to building up broad and close interrelationship with Chinese leaders, and he was good at using contradictions, disintegrating, playing politics if necessary, and even adopting arbitrary. Persuading and mediating between individuals were his working style and art.The failure of the first KMT-CPC cooperation was caused by multiple reasons, independent of man’s will. During the period from1923to1927, the Soviet Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) and the Communist International provided theories, strategies and guidance, and the Soviet Union government offered huge support of human resources, materials and finance. However, the cooperation did not follow their designed scheme on account of separating from the national situation and revolutionary reality of China, as well as the poor contrast of the objective power between two sides. From this perspective, Borodin’s mission was doomed to be unable to be completed. The best option of the national revolution should be to realize the coalition of all revolutionary classes. Nevertheless, it was ended by the dictatorship of big landlords and big bourgeoisie. In a word, this failure was caused by the double insufficiency of theoretical preparation and practical experience, along with the incapability of finding the right revolutionary road in line with the national conditions of China. After all, the right road can only be found by the CPC members themselves.