The May 30th Movement and the Unification of the Guangdong Revolutionary Base

The arrival of the climax of the nationwide revolution began with the strike of Shanghai workers against foreign capitalists in May 1925.

On May 15, Japanese capitalists shot and killed Gu Zhenghong, a worker and Communist Party member at the No. 7 Cotton Factory in Shanghai. On the 30th, under the leadership and mobilization of the Communist Party of China, Shanghai workers and students held street propaganda and demonstrations. British patrols in the concession suddenly opened fire on Nanjing Road, killing 13 students and workers, and countless injuries. This is the May 30th tragedy that shocked the whole country. In the next few days, there were successive incidents of military and police shootings of Chinese people by British, Japanese and other countries in Shanghai and other places.

The May 30th tragedy aroused great anger among the entire Chinese people. The anger against imperialism that has been buried in the hearts of the Chinese people for many years suddenly erupted, resulting in a situation of workers' strikes, student strikes, and businessmen strikes. The Party Central Committee decided to establish the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions and the Shanghai Industry and Commerce Joint Committee to strengthen the leadership of the movement. About 17 million people across the country directly participated in the movement. From trade cities to remote towns, there were roars of "down with imperialism" and "abolition of unequal treaties. With the May 30th tragedy as the fuse, the wave of national movements against imperialism quickly swept across the country with an unstoppable momentum. This is the May 30th Movement.

The provincial-Hong Kong general strike in Guangzhou and Hong Kong, which involved 250,000 people, was an important part of the May 30th Movement. Striking workers set up a provincial-Hong Kong strike committee with Communist Party member Su Zhaozheng as its chairman to impose a blockade on Hong Kong. For 16 months before and after the general strike, more than 100,000 organized strike workers concentrated in Guangzhou became a strong pillar of the revolutionary government in Guangzhou.

The party has made great progress in leading the May 30th Movement. The number of party members has grown from less than 1,000 at the beginning of 1925 to 10,000 at the end of the year. Many places without party organizations have established party organizations. In order to adapt to the new situation of the climax of the Great Revolution, the Party Central Committee promptly proposed to "transition the party from a small group to a centralized mass party" in a very short period of time, emphasizing the importance of educating and training party members, and established a school in Beijing. Senior party schools train cadres.

Under the favorable situation of vigorous development, the Kuomintang and the Communist Party cooperated in the work of unifying the revolutionary base areas in Guangdong. In 1925, after two eastern and southern expeditions, the warlords Chen Jiongming and Deng Benyin were eliminated, the rebellion of Yang Ximin and Liu Zhenhuan in Guangzhou was quelled, the Guangdong revolutionary base was unified, and a more reliable rear base was prepared for the Northern Expedition.

The party also made attempts to create revolutionary armed forces under direct leadership. With the support of Sun Yat-sen, Zhou Enlai and the Guangdong District Committee of the Communist Party of China, with some party and league members as the backbone, reorganized the armored convoy of the Marshal's headquarters into a revolutionary armed force under the actual command of the party. In early 1926, an independent regiment of the Fourth Army of the National Revolutionary Army, commanded by Communist Party member Ye Ting, was established.

Under the hard work of Li Dazhao and others, the revolutionary movement in the northern region developed rapidly. From the beginning of 1924, the northern workers' movement gradually broke the depression after the 27 massacre and recovered and developed. Workers in Beijing, Qingdao, Tangshan and other places went on strike one after another. In October 1925, the enlarged meeting of the Central Executive Committee emphasized the importance of work in the northern region and decided to strengthen the leadership of the northern revolution. After the meeting, the Northern District Executive Committee of the Communist Party of China was established, with Li Dazhao as its secretary. By July 1926, more than a dozen prefectural party committees and dozens of special branches and independent branches had been established in Beijing, Tianjin, Tangshan, Taiyuan, Bei Manchu and other places, with more than 2,000 party members. Li Dazhao and the Northern Party Organization of the Communist Party of China also carried out the work of fighting for Feng Yuxiang and his national army, and carried out the campaign for tariff autonomy. These struggles showed the awakening of the revolutionary consciousness of the northern people and dealt a blow to the reactionary government of Duan Qirui, who controlled Beijing.

Source: A Brief History of the Communist Party of China