In July 1913, four months after Song Jiaoren was assassinated, Sun Yat-sen, Huang Xing and others launched the "Second Revolution" to overthrow Yuan, but unexpectedly, domestic and foreign public opinion and the people generally did not support the Kuomintang's uprising behavior at that time. Yuan Shikai even publicly said at the press conference: " Sun Wen makes trouble today, and tomorrow will make trouble, which will be a party."
For a long time, people generally regarded Yuan Shikai as the behind-the-scenes envoy of the Song case, but now more and more historical scholars believe that Yuan Shikai does not need to kill Song Jiaoren at all. Because according to " Provisional Constitution ", after the Kuomintang won the election, Song Jiaoren only formed a responsible cabinet, not to run for the president, and would not actually threaten Yuan Shikai's status. Furthermore, the first two presidents were served by Yuan Shikai, which was the consensus of Sun Yat-sen, the Kuomintang and various political factions in the country at that time, and Yuan Shikai had no need to give someone a handle.
One of the goals of Tongmenghui , founded in 1905, is to establish the Republic of China, which is to overthrow the imperial system and establish a democratic republic. But what kind of democratic republic should be established? Many people have never considered how to achieve a democratic republic.
Before and after the reorganization of the Tongmenghui into the Kuomintang, Sun Yat-sen and Song Jiaoren made some thoughts. Sun Yat-sen's idea was to have a gradual process after the revolution. At this stage, the revolutionary party monopolizes the power, and after several periods of time, the regime will be opened. This set of ideas was later summarized as the "three-step" of "military and political affairs, training and political affairs, and constitutionalism".
But Song Jiaoren holds a different view. He believes that if the revolutionaries completely monopolize the regime, they may become new dictators, hinder democracy and the implementation of constitutionalism. Therefore, Song Jiaoren advocated the implementation of democratic constitutionalism immediately after the revolution. But the presidential system is not implemented, but the cabinet system is implemented, so that the president will have a relatively small possibility of dictatorship and autocracy.
The final development direction is to follow the route envisioned by Song Jiaoren. The Kuomintang won the first general election and obtained the right to form a cabinet, and Song Jiaoren will serve as Prime Minister of the Cabinet and organize the government. It was at this time that the Song case occurred.
As soon as the Song case came out, many people in society advocated judicial resolution and did not advocate armed uprisings. Many local officials, chambers of commerce and their groups have sent telegrams against the use of force, advocating the judicial path. After all, the Republic of China has been established, and the solution of problems must be carried out in the way of the Republic of China, and we must never follow the old path of violence. Including the chapter Taiyan , which has been chasing Yuan Shikai for many years, it also advocates not to move troops and go through judicial procedures.
But the north and the south finally met, and a constitutional experiment of the responsible cabinet was aborted.
Now we all call the Kuomintang’s uprising the “second revolution”, and have preset the justice of this military operation from a subjective and legal perspective. But at that time, this military operation was unpopular. How did the newspapers at that time say the "Second Revolution"? They all say "Sun Huang rebelled".
Old Tongmeng member Liang Shuming said in a public speech: "Now it is very clear that what is placed outside is the situation of the military forces." Liang Shuming accused these revolutionary predecessors of not using the means of the "second revolution" in any case.
Within the Kuomintang, many people also expressed objections to the use of force. Later, the Yunnan governor Cai E , who rushed forward in the war to protect the country, publicly stated at that time: "The Song case should be punished by law, so the result of the trial will be judged by law."
The governors of the four southwestern provinces jointly issued a telegram, firmly opposing the use of troops, advocated organizing special courts, and resolved by law, especially "strictly prohibiting military personnel from interfering in politics."
" Minlibao " published an article saying that even if Yuan Shikai is proven to be a bad person, the law and Congress will impose sanctions on him. Now he does not even go through judicial procedures. "does not need to plot chaos to disturb the people" . The Kuomintang's move is " is self-destructive and his crime is unforgivable."
At least before July 1913, Yuan Shikai did not violate the constitutional government, but the Kuomintang itself destroyed the constitutional government first.Because one of theirs died dragged the country into war again, which was very wrong. Therefore, the mainstream public opinion at that time almost did not support the Kuomintang, which was enough to prove how unpopular the "Second Revolution" was.
Whether it is the mainstream public opinion at that time or from today's perspective, since we have decided to go to a democratic system, we must have the most basic constitutional spirit, and this constitutional spirit is exactly what the vast majority of Kuomintang people do not have.
The Kuomintang has just transformed from the revolutionary party, and its mind is still full of assassination and violence. It doesn’t like it or get used to solving problems within the legal framework, so it chooses to use violence.
At that time, if the Kuomintang insisted on legal resolution, it would be possible to add points in the political game, which would be beneficial to the Kuomintang's own political propaganda. Even if the judicial channels do not achieve satisfactory results, the people will have a view that the intellectual elites will still speak, because the newspapers at that time were completely relaxed and any voice could be made, justice was in the hearts of the people. The sensation in public opinion would make Yuan Shikai worried, and Song Jiaoren would not die in vain.
After the establishment of the Republic of China, opposing the solution of the problem by force was a common public opinion in China. Social turmoil made people expect a strong leader and the emergence of the central government. So in fact, the revolution initiated by fierce Kuomintang elements not only did not give himself points, but instead gave Yuan Shikai a good opportunity to establish authority.
What Sun Yat-sen and others never expected was that their actions were generally disgusted by all sectors of society. The intellectual elites all felt that the Kuomintang was just a "rebel" and would only cause trouble and not build. Some people even accused them of kidnapping the people of the whole country in the name of revolution, and the so-called "second revolution" is not worthy of being called "revolution".
Originally, there was a huge gap in the forces between the two sides in the north and the south, and the Kuomintang was uneven, after the "Second Revolution" started, it was soon defeated. After the war, Yuan Shikai ordered the dissolution of the Kuomintang in the name of "rebellion". Song Jiaoren went through great pains to help the Kuomintang win the majority of the votes, and the Congress, which was disbanded.
The failure of violent revolution ended the newly publicly legitimized party politics , so Liang Shuming said that the "second revolution" of is really the beginning of the struggle for political struggle with force.
From a broader world historical background, after various countries overturned the traditional political system, they had to go through a period of turbulent and chaotic years before establishing a modern political system.
In the early years of the Republic of China, China was not a society ruled by law. Almost everyone, including Sun Yat-sen and Yuan Shikai, lacked the concept of rule of law. What they respected was strength rather than law. The bigwigs in the early Republic of China have always regarded politics as a life-and-death struggle, but the modern Western politics they pursue and the constitutional goals reflected in the Provisional Constitution are the art of compromise based on the legal basis.
The Kuomintang won the election on the surface, but there were actually very few people who truly supported democracy, constitutional rule of law, responsible cabinet, and party rotation concepts. This is the fundamental reason for the failure of the Kuomintang's "second revolution".
