Friends Close, Enemies Closer: The United Front in Action

As both the Guomindang and the Communist Party benefit from their collaboration, tensions build.Further reading:Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in ChinaSteve Smith, A Road Is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927Alexander Pantsov, The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution, 1919-1927C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927Arif Dirlik, “Mass Movements and the Left Kuomintang”Some names from this episode:Sun Zhongshan/Sun Yatsen, leader of the GuomindangMikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the GuomindangChen Jiongming, Southern warlord, ally and then enemy of Sun YatsenChiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military officer, close confidant of Sun YatsenLev Karakhan, Soviet ambassador to China beginning in 1923Gregory Chicherin, Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign AffairsChen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist PartySupport the show