Those people of the Republic of China (I) Zuo Shunsheng

I. Introduction of Zuo Shunsheng

Zuo Shunsheng (1893-1969), known as Xuexun, was a native of Changsha, Hunan. In 1912, he entered Shanghai Aurora University and was a classmate of Zeng Qi, Li Huang and others. In 1919, Zuo Shunsheng, Zeng Qi, Li Huang, Chen Qitian and others initiated the organization of the Young Chinese Society. In 1920, he succeeded Wang Guangqi as the director of the executive department of the Young Chinese Society, contacting more than 100 members scattered at home and abroad, taking care of the exchanges, correspondence, and publication of works. At the same time, he was also responsible for editing "Young China" and advocating nationalist ideas. In the same year, Zuo Shunsheng became the editor of the Zhonghua Bookstore, presided over the new book department, and successively edited and printed the "New Culture Special Journal", "Education Special Journal", and "Special Journal of the Young Chinese Society". In 1924, together with Zeng Qi, Li Huang and a dozen other members of the Young Chinese Society, he founded the "Awakening Lion Weekly", an organ of the Chinese Youth Party, in Shanghai to advocate nationalism and carry out anti-Soviet and anti-communist propaganda. "Awakening Lion Weekly" is edited by Zeng Qi, with Zuo Shunsheng as the manager, responsible for proofreading and distribution. The funds for the establishment of the "Awakening Lion Weekly" are jointly borne by the promoters, and the manuscripts are mostly provided by the promoters. Since its inception, the Juvenile Society has attached great importance to social activities based on culture and scholarship, but within the Juvenile Chinese Society there are a small number of Communists such as Mao Zedong, Li Dazhao, Deng Zhongxia, etc., who attach great importance to political activities. Therefore, there was a fierce debate on social and political activities on both sides in the "Awakening Lion Weekly", which in turn caused a dispute between nationalism and communism. In these two controversies, Zuo Shunsheng always adhered to social activities and favored nationalism. In 1925, Zuo Shunsheng joined the Chinese Youth Party and began to embark on the path of political activities. In 1926, he became a member of the Standing Committee of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Chinese Youth Party. In 1927, the Awakening Lion Weekly could not be published publicly in Shanghai, and the youth party members moved from public activities to the underground, during which time Zuo Shunsheng concentrated on working in the Zhonghua Bookstore and immersed himself in reading school books. In April 1928, Mr. Zuo Shunsheng, on behalf of the Youth Party, exchanged letters with the president of the Kuomintang, Chiang Kai-shek, reiterating the conviction of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China in the tribulations, and the letter was published publicly, and the Youth Party was recognized by the whole country from its founding to this time, which was also the beginning of the democratic road of party relations in our country. In August 1928, the Youth Party held a national congress in Hankou, and determined that the current situation of the Youth Party was to "support the government's war of resistance and promote democratic politics", and Zuo Shunsheng was elected as a standing committee member to preside over the propaganda work. In 1928, Zuo Shunsheng founded the Guoguang Xun magazine and the New China Daily in Hankou to expand the propaganda of the War of Resistance. In 1930, Zuo Shunsheng founded the "Semi-Monthly Magazine of the Shovel Communist Party" in Shanghai, and published an article in the "Shovel Communist Party" under the pseudonym to remind all parties in the government and the opposition to pay attention to the revival of the Communist Party. In 1931, he founded the weekly newspaper "Minsheng", and after the "September 18 Incident" in 1931, he often advocated the idea of "stopping the civil war and uniting with the outside world" in "Minsheng" and launched the Anti-Japanese Radical Advance Association. After the "January 28 Incident" in 1932, Zuo Shunsheng resigned from the Central Book Bureau and hosted the Shenjiang Daily, which aroused the morale of the people, and was elected as a representative by the Shanghai Forty Gongtuan to go to Beijing to persuade Zhang Xueliang and Wu Peifu to send troops to resist the war. In 1935, Zuo Shunsheng was appointed chairman of the Executive Committee of the Central Committee of the Chinese Youth Party. On the eve of the "July 7 Incident", Mr. Zuo Shunsheng attended the Lushan Talk meeting and supported the government's decision to comprehensively resist the war. In order to unite the people of the whole country to fight the War of Resistance, in 1937 the National Government established the National Defense Council, followed by the National Suffrage Council (1938.7-1947), Zuo Shunsheng served as chairman of the presidium and resident member of the Suffrage Committee, and in July 1945, he visited Yan'an with Six suffragettes, including Fu Sinian, Huang Yanpei, and Zhang Bojun. In 1948, Zuo Shunsheng served as a delegate to the First National Convention, attended the first session of the National Assembly, and was elected chairman of the Presidium. In April 1949, Zuo Shunsheng went from Shanghai to Taiwan, and in September from Taiwan to Hong Kong, and has lived in Hong Kong for a long time since then. On September 14, 1969, he went to Taiwan due to illness and was admitted to TheOn Min General Hospital for ineffective treatment and died.

Looking at Zuo Shunsheng's life, we can see that Zuo Shunsheng was a politician who experienced the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, and in addition, Zuo Shunsheng was an important ideological and historical figure. His ideas represented the thoughts of some politicians at that time and had a great influence on the ideological circles at that time.

Second, it is influenced by traditional cultural thought

Zuo Shunsheng's political thought was influenced and limited by thousands of years of traditional Chinese culture, Zuo Shunsheng began to study private school at the age of 7, dropped out of Aurora University in 24, although he attended a special foreign language school during the period, he systematically studied Confucian classics, received formal traditional education training, and had a good foundation in traditional Chinese studies, so Confucianism has left a serious imprint on Zuo Shunsheng's thought. In Zuo Shunsheng's political thought, whether it is the nationalism advocated by Zuo Shunsheng or the anti-Japanese anti-Japanese ideology, the idea of patriotism occupies a prominent position, and this is inseparable from the influence of traditional patriotic ideas on him, especially the strong sense of social responsibility that intellectuals who should be formed under the influence of the "great unification" advocated by Confucianism and its influence. In addition, Zuo Shunsheng's democratic republican ideas are not all completely consistent with the democratic republic advocated by the West, which also includes civil rights ideas like Confucius's "people-oriented thought" and Mencius's "people are precious, and social welfare is secondary".

Third, the idea of patriotism

On December 2, 1923, the Chinese Youth Party held its inaugural meeting on The Rue de la République in the Rose Village of Paris, France. Present at the meeting were Zeng Qi and Li Huang, the core figures of the nationalist faction, as well as Twelve people, including He Luzhi, Li Buqu, and Zhang Zizhu. The meeting adopted the "Declaration on the Building of the Party by the Chinese Youth Party" drafted by Zeng Qi, which established the purpose of the Chinese Youth Party as follows: "If you speak to the outside world, you will strive for the independence and freedom of the Republic of China as the banner." ...... As for the internal side, it is based on the creed of overthrowing the warlords who have brought calamity to the country and the people and realizing the politics of the whole people. In his article "Talking About Us," Li Huang summarized the purpose of the Chinese Youth Party as "the spirit of nationalism, the adoption of the means of the revolution of the whole people, the resistance to power outside the country, the struggle for the independence and freedom of the Republic of China, the removal of national thieves, and the construction of a country for the welfare of the whole people." Yu Jiaju believes that before reaching the "politics of the whole people" and "welfare of the whole people", one of the things that must be done is to "complete the national character of the Republic of China", that is, "seeking independence from outside" and "seeking reunification internally". It can be seen from this that at the beginning of its founding, the Chinese Youth Party resolutely safeguarded China's independence and self-determination, and its main leaders unanimously held that a country with a complete national character should be a country that can independently exercise its sovereignty externally and maintain the unity of its will internally. Therefore, in the face of Japanese aggression, the Chinese Youth Party resolutely resisted Japan and vigorously defended China's independence, and in the face of the intensification of contradictions between the Kuomintang and the Communists, the Chinese Youth Party tried to ease up in order to ensure China's integrity. As one of the leaders of the Chinese Youth Party, Zuo Shunsheng has a strong patriotic ideology, including the idea of resisting Japan and the idea of peaceful construction, of which the anti-Japanese ideology occupies a core position in Zuo Shunsheng's patriotic thought, and his anti-Japanese ideology is mainly divided into three aspects: the idea of resisting Japan by force, the idea of opposing the establishment of puppet Manchukuo, and the idea of all-round resistance to Japan.

【Anti-Japanese Thought】On the night of September 18, 1931, the Japanese Kwantung Army blew up a section of the South Manchuria Railway near the village of Wicker Lake on the northern outskirts of Shenyang, and framed it as the work of the Chinese army, and then attacked the Northeast China Army garrison, Beidaying and Shenyang City, creating the 918 Incident that shocked China and foreign countries. The Chinese nation is facing the crisis of national subjugation and extinction, and in the face of this crisis, the Nationalist Government attempts to rely on the strength of the League of Nations to suppress Japan's aggressive actions, and in essence implements a policy of non-resistance against Japan. The Communist Party vigorously called for resistance against Japan, but "left-leaning ideas" spread within the Party and did not actually focus on anti-Japanese activities. During this period, the Chinese Youth Party, which was outside the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, advocated the cessation of the civil war, armed resistance against Japan, and actively participated in the Battle of Songhu and the anti-Japanese activities of the Northeast Volunteer Army. There were different opinions among the leaders of the Al-Shabaab Party on how to resist Japan, and Zeng Qi suggested marching into the northeast in the name of crusading against the pseudo-Manchu rebellion and recovering the lost land. Lord Liu Tianyu proposed "resisting the violent japanese army with a protracted strategy armed by the whole people"; Chang Yansheng advocated the implementation of "field anti-Japanese resistance"; Yu Jiaju proposed the establishment of a national defense force; and Zuo Shunsheng and Chen Qitian advocated the implementation of "general mobilization of the whole people".

After the September 18 Incident, Zuo Shunsheng advocated war against Japan. In 1931, after the September 18 Incident, Zuo Shunsheng, Chen Qitian, and others founded the "Civil Constitution Weekly" in Shanghai, and published articles in the "Civil Constitution Weekly" several times to publicize the idea of fighting against Japan. Zuo Shunsheng saw Japan's ambition to invade China, and he believed that Japan had already made up its mind before sending troops to China, and after careful investigation, once the troops were dispatched, it would never be just for the purpose of invading and occupying the two provinces of Kyrgyzstan and Liao, and that Japan would not stop using troops until it achieved a greater goal, so "If we do not hold a resolute attitude of settling a fierce account with Japan, it is not only that the two provinces of Kyrgyzstan and Liaoning are worried about the survival of the two provinces in name only, but we want to save the recent Sino-Japanese negotiations a little, and I am afraid that it is impossible." In November, the Nationalist government held a national disaster conference, and Zuo Shunsheng refused to attend, seeing that this was a perfunctory tool and could not organize anti-Japanese activities through unity. Subsequently, Zuo Shunsheng participated in the Republic of China National Disaster Relief Society, composed of Zhang Binglin and others, and expressed his own views, believing that Japan's aggression was because China had not realized democratic constitutionalism, so he demanded that the Kuomintang lift the party ban and make a constitution. On December 5, Zuo Shunsheng published an article entitled "Main War" in the "Civil Constitution Weekly", which discussed the reasons for advocating war against Japan from the following three aspects: First, he believed that only in the war against Japan could he cultivate real talents and the supreme leader beloved by the whole country. He believes that China has not had a real foreign war since the Sino-Japanese War, which has caused a lack of Chinese talents, especially the talents of the supreme leader. Second, only Wei can borrow war. Opposing the surrender of the three eastern provinces to Japan will lead to the decadence and eventual decline of the Chinese nation, and the Chinese nation may not perish after the war against Japan, and compromise with Japan will certainly lead to the demise of the Chinese nation. Third, fighting Japan could turn China into a modern country. China does not yet have the conditions for a modern country, and only in the face of the heavy pressure of foreign wars can we clearly see and eliminate its own shortcomings and turn China into a modern country. After the September 18 Incident, the Nationalist Government did not immediately adopt anti-Japanese activities, which made the people feel hopeless, so Zuo Shunsheng called on the whole people to resist Japan independently, he said: "We do not have to call slogans, nor do we have to distribute leaflets, we do not have to put up slogans, we do not have to call electricity, we do not have to petition the government again, the most important thing is that the people will automatically rise up to resist Japan, let them do their work, we will do ours." (12) He believes that China has been in a chaotic situation for a long time, which requires the people to change automatically, and what is most needed at present is for people to participate in the war against Japan with the determination to die, without considering the problems of food and ordnance, and to spontaneously organize the war of resistance. In January 1932, Zuo Shunsheng published an article entitled "The Magnificent Northeast Volunteer Army", pointing out that when the Northeast fell, Pingjin fell, and when Pingjin fell, China fell, and enthusiastically supported the Northeast Volunteer Army. After the Battle of Songhu, Zuo Shunsheng sent a telegram to the whole country to request support for the Nineteenth Route Army. In October, the Youth Party published the Shenjiang Daily, headed by Zuo Shunsheng, most of whom wrote the editorials, and through this newspaper, he boosted the morale of the vast number of people to resist Japan and save the country.

Opposed the establishment of the puppet state of Manchukuo. After the September 18 Incident, Japan invaded the northeast region and turned it into a Japanese colony, in order to better colonize it, Japan began to premeditate the use of Puyi to establish a puppet Manchu regime as a puppet regime controlled by itself. In the planning stage of this regime, Zuo Shunsheng saw Japan's ambitions, and he successively published two articles in the "Civil Constitution Weekly" entitled "The So-Called Kanto Prefecture of the Japanese" and "The South Manchurian Railway Co., Ltd.", explaining that the Kanto region was taken over by Japan after the Russo-Japanese War, which originally had Russian leasehold rights in the Liaodong region, and also analyzed the current scope of Japanese management and sphere of influence in this region. Subsequently, in November 1931, Zuo Shunsheng published an article in this journal entitled "The Seriousness of Japan's Use of Puyi's Restoration", pointing out that Japan was deliberately planning the ambitions of the Manchu Empire. He stressed: "Once the facts have been established, Japan will provide the chief of the child with millions of years of age every year, and all the military, finance, transportation, finance, and police power will be completely under the control of the Japanese." Nominally it is national self-determination, and the Manchus rule the Manchus, but in fact, the three northeastern provinces have been completely destroyed as the second in Korea! Zuo Shunsheng saw the ambitions of the Japanese, and at the same time condemned the non-resistance of the Nationalist government, calling on the nationalists to organize anti-Japanese activities and completely break the Japanese conspiracy to establish a puppet state of Manchukuo.

On the evening of July 7, 1937, on July 7, 1937, when the Japanese troops stationed in China were exercising near the Lugou Bridge, they demanded to enter the county town of Wanping under the pretext of "disappearing" a soldier. His unreasonable demands were rejected by the Chinese defenders, and the Japanese army brazenly opened fire on the Chinese defenders and shelled the city of Wanping, creating the "July 7 Incident" that shocked China and foreign countries. After the July 7 Incident, the people of the whole country have always demanded war against Japan, and the National Government, faced with the pressure of public opinion to "stop the civil war and unite with the outside world" throughout the country, began to take the initiative to ease relations with the Chinese Youth Party in order to win the support of all classes, and the Chinese Youth Party also turned to cooperation with the Kuomintang in order to meet the needs of its own development and all-round war of resistance.

After the July 7 Incident, Zuo Shunsheng fully advocated stopping the internal strife and unanimously going to the outside world. On August 11, 1937, Zuo Shunsheng and Li Huang met with Chiang Kai-shek, and mainly talked about the attitude of the Nationalist Government toward the Japanese War of Resistance and the opinions of the opposition parties on the government's anti-Japanese decision-making. Subsequently, on Chiang Kai-shek's orders, Zhang Qun also asked Zuo Shunsheng, Liang Shuming, and others to hold a meeting to solicit opinions on the anti-Japanese issue, at which Zuo Shunsheng said: "Since August 13, we have decided on the purpose of the sixteen characters, that is, to support Chairman Chiang Kai-shek's 'support for the war, and support for the victory, and support for the defeat'. "This was the beginning of al-Shabaab's support for the Nationalist government after the outbreak of the War of Resistance. Zuo Shunsheng not only agreed with the Al-Shabaab supporting the Kuomintang, but also called on other parties to support the Kuomintang in the all-out War of Resistance Against Japan. In March 1938, Zuo Shunsheng founded the "Guoguang Xun magazine" in Changsha, with the purpose of inspiring the people to share the same hatred and hatred, kill the enemy bravely, and sacrifice for the country. Zuo Shunsheng pointed out in his published speech: "Our people regard hitting the enemy as the first priority, recognize that the interests of the country are above all else, and we regard the interests of every party and faction lightly, including ourselves. Any remarks and actions that run counter to the interests of the state are not discovered, and if they are discovered, we will not hesitate to go all out to the end. On April 21, Zuo Shunsheng, on behalf of the China Youth Party, wrote a letter to the KMT's main and vice presidents, Chiang Kai-shek and Wang Zhaoming, saying: "There is only one thought of sharing hardships with the KMT. "It officially expressed the attitude of supporting the National Government in the War of Resistance. On July 1, Zuo Shunsheng was elected as a suffragan member of the First Section of the National Suffrage Committee, and on July 29, he published an article entitled "Closing of the First Session of the Suffragists' Political Council" in the "Guoguang Monthly Journal", advocating that the people of the whole country should be fully united in the fight against Japan.

After the beginning of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the Kuomintang actively resisted the War of Resistance on the one hand, and on the other hand adhered to the stand of one-party dictatorship and the prevention and limitation of communism. The continuous development of the people's power under the leadership of the Communist Party of China has made the Kuomintang fearful. After the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression entered the stage of stalemate, Japan began to implement a policy of giving priority to political inducement and military offensive to the Kuomintang, and the Kuomintang immediately began to implement a policy of passive resistance and active anti-communism. In January 1939, after the Fifth Plenary Session of the Fifth Central Committee of the Kuomintang, it began to create a series of anti-communist incidents such as Boshan, Shenshan, Pingjiang, and Qishan, and the Anhui Incident in January 1941 brought this anti-communist upsurge to a climax. In the face of this situation, the centrist political forces tried their best to make corresponding efforts for the unity of the two sides and the common resistance to Japan. During this period, Zuo Shunsheng advocated that the two parties of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party should put the overall situation first, cooperate as the mainstay, avoid conflict, and jointly resist Japan. On May 6, 1942, Zuo Shunsheng met with Zhou Enlai, Luo Longji, and others, and agreed with each other to uphold the War of Resistance, respect the armed forces of all parties, and ensure and cooperate with the people's activities conducive to the democracy of the War of Resistance. On October 20, 1944, Zuo Shunsheng published an article entitled "The Way of Adjustment of the Kuomintang and the Communist Party" in the "Civil Gazette Semi-Monthly", on behalf of a third party, he said: "The problem of unity and disunity in the country today is a matter of life and death for all the people of the whole country, and when the country is in danger of survival, we hope that both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party will affirm that the interests of the country and the nation are above all else. He hoped that before the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, the Kuomintang and the Communists would maintain an attitude and method of cooperation, ensure domestic peace, be able to unite with the outside world, actively resist the war, and strive for the final victory of the War of Resistance with the greatest efforts.

On August 15, 1945, the Emperor of Japan announced the "Armistice Edict" to the whole country through radio, Japan surrendered unconditionally, China won the final victory in the War of Resistance Against Japan, and the Second World War officially ended. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union dominated the world, China became the most serious middle ground between the United States and the Soviet Union, the United States tried to support the Kuomintang government to change China into a capitalist country, and the Soviet Union tried to use the Communist Party to gain power, thus supporting its confrontation with the United States. After the victory of the War of Resistance, the Kuomintang adhered to the principle of civil war and dictatorship in an attempt to lure the Communist Party into handing over the real power of the army and the liberated areas with democratic slogans. During this period, the political activities of the democratic parties were unprecedentedly active, and the third-party forces actively advocated consultation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China, jointly negotiated the current issues, and hoped to solve the problems through non-force means to accomplish the ultimate goal of peaceful nation-building.

Before and after the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Zuo Shunsheng actively promoted consultations between the Kuomintang and the Communists and advocated peaceful nation-building. In early May 1945, Zuo Shunsheng, Chu Fucheng, Huang Yanpei, Wang Yunwu, Fu Sinian, Zhang Bojun, and seven other members of the National Committee of Political Participation, once gathered for consultations and always hoped that the Kuomintang would resume talks. At the end of May, the Nationalist government appointed Zuo Shunsheng as a member of the Seven-Member Committee, specifically responsible for negotiations with China. On 2 June, Zuo Shunsheng and others sent a letter to Mao Zedong, chairman of the CPC Central Committee, and Zhou Enlai, a member of the CPC Central Committee, requesting a visit to Yan'an and trying to ensure that the stalled political talks could continue, so as to "complete unity as soon as possible and ensure that the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression came as soon as possible, that is, the foundation for the founding of the country was laid in a new way." On 18 June, the CPC replied with a letter welcoming Zuo Shunsheng and others to visit Yan'an. On July 1, Zuo Shunsheng and others set off from Chongqing to Yan'an, and although Zuo Shunsheng realized that if the dispute between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party could not be properly resolved, it would inevitably affect the future of the country, but at the same time he also knew that the problems between the Kuomintang and the Communists could not be solved by this visit to Yan'an. On July 5, Zuo Shunsheng and others returned to Chongqing. Although the visit to Yan'an did not substantively solve the problems between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Zuo Shunsheng and others did take the relaxation of relations between the two parties as a starting point. On December 25, Zuo Shunsheng published an article in Wencui Weekly entitled "From Stopping the Civil War to the Political Consultative Conference", calling on the kmts and the communist parties not to miss the last opportunity to make concessions to each other, hoping that the two parties could be honest with each other and make concessions to each other to ensure peace and reunification in the country.