From the Revolution of 1911 to the War of Resistance Against Japan and the War of Liberation, China has experienced several major changes over the past century, and many people have come and gone on the political stage.
Chiang Kai-shek As the leader of the Kuomintang, he had numerous confrontations with our party.
How do our party leaders evaluate Chiang Kai-shek? Premier Zhou's comments were pertinent, and Chairman Mao's were the most incisive.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek
Premier Zhou and Chiang Kai-shek have known each other for a long time. They have a relationship of almost half a century. Premier Zhou's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek is very pertinent.
The two first worked together in 1924 at the Whampoa Military Academy.
Premier Zhou and Chiang Kai-shek were 10 and a half years old. They were both fellow villagers in Zhejiang, and both were loyal followers of Sun Yat-sen .
They all traveled around to study and studied overseas several times. Influenced by the current trends, they all became loyal followers of Sun Yat-sen, the forerunner of the democratic revolution.
At Whampoa Military Academy, Premier Zhou showed outstanding talents.
In November 1924, he was appointed by Chiang Kai-shek as the director of the Political Department of the Huangpu Military Academy.
After Premier Zhou took office, after some vigorous rectification, the work of the Political Department quickly got on the right track and a new atmosphere emerged.
Due to the rapid deterioration of the situation around Guangzhou, the students of the Whampoa Military Academy had to suspend their studies and devote themselves to the battle to quell the rebellion of the Guangzhou business group and the eastward expedition against Chen Jiongming .
At this time, Premier Zhou showed outstanding leadership skills both in marches and in battles, and displayed a rare ability to boost morale, which once again impressed Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek once boasted to others: One of his most effective assistants in Whampoa Military Academy was Zhou Enlai and the other was Deng Yanda.
However, from 1925 to 1926, Chiang Kai-shek gradually gained absolute power at the Whampoa Military Academy, and relied on his political skills to become a member of the Central Executive Committee and a member of the Central Standing Committee of the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang. He also served as the commander-in-chief of the National Revolutionary Army, and he became more and more prosperous.
In March 1926, Chiang Kai-shek launched the " Zhongshan Ship Incident " . His men actually put Premier Zhou, who had gone there after hearing the news, under house arrest in the Guangzhou Mint for a day.
Although Chiang Kai-shek quickly ordered the release of Premier Zhou after hearing the news, a rift began to appear between Premier Zhou and Chiang Kai-shek.
Later, Chiang Kai-shek heard about Premier Zhou's outstanding organizational and commanding abilities in the third Shanghai workers' uprising, and expressed his appreciation in person many times.
Premier Zhou also admired Chiang Kai-shek's leadership ability displayed in the Northern Expedition, but he had a further understanding of his internal and external nature, limiting and dividing communism, and even anti-communism.
Chiang Kai-shek, who was good at playing political conspiracies by any means, even smiled and expressed condolences to the workers' pickets on April 7 and presented them with a banner of "Common Struggle", but secretly stepped up preparations and brazenly raised a butcher's knife against the workers' pickets on the 12th.
Subsequently, 197 Communist Party members and leftists including Chen Duxiu, Borodin, Tan Pingshan, Lin Zuhan, Xu Qian were wanted.
3 Months later, Wang Jingwei also raised the black flag of anti-communism.
After the split between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party, Premier Zhou Enlai and Chiang Kai-shek completely separated into two completely opposing camps.
Many years later, Premier Zhou Enlai commented on Chiang Kai-shek when talking to American journalist Sulzberger: "When he was in the revolutionary ranks, he still used the revolutionary banner and used the people to increase his own power and influence. From now on, this routine became more and more sophisticated. ”
Premier Zhou’s evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek’s political character was spot-on, and he fully exposed his true nature of using “revolution” as a sign to achieve his ambitions.
However, as both of them were born in the Whampoa Military Academy, Premier Zhou also made some comments on Chiang Kai-shek's military capabilities.
It was 1936, when Premier Zhou was interviewed by American journalist Edgar Snow .
In the spring of 1936, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army had successfully completed the great feat of the 25,000-mile Long March, and the revolutionary situation had turned a corner.
In order to break the nine-year strict news blockade imposed by the Kuomintang reactionaries and promote their program and political ideas at home and abroad, the Party Central Committee decided to welcome and assist Western journalists to visit the Soviet Area .
After Song Qingling got in touch with the party, he recommended Snow, who had deep feelings for the Chinese people, as the first Western reporter to visit northern Shaanxi.
Soon after, Snow arrived at Baijiaping, Ansai County.
Here, Premier Zhou met with Snow and said to him: "You can report whatever you see, and we will give you all the help to inspect the Soviet area."
Premier Zhou arranged accommodation for Snow and drafted a 92-day itinerary for him.
Under the bright lights, they talked for a long time until late at night.
Snow recorded in detail the legendary experience of Premier Zhou, a "rebel born as a scholar", and was moved by Premier Zhou's incomparable ability to endure hardships, selfless loyalty to an idea and indomitable spirit of never admitting failure.
It was also in this interview that Premier Zhou revealed his views on Chiang Kai-shek to Snow.
At that time, Snow asked Premier Zhou what kind of evaluation Premier Zhou would make of Chiang Kai-shek as a soldier.
Premier Zhou pointed out that if Chiang Kai-shek was a tactician, he was a poor amateur, but if he was a strategist, he might be better.
Regarding this evaluation, Snow expressed some doubts, so Premier Zhou patiently explained it.
Premier Zhou said: "When Chiang Kai-shek was a tactician, he used Napoleon methods. If Napoleon's methods were used, then the soldiers' high morale, fighting spirit and will to win would be the greatest reliance, but It was Chiang Kai-shek who did a very poor job in this regard. "
When Chiang Kai-shek was leading troops, he always felt that he was an assault hero with a death squad. No matter he was leading a regiment or a division, he always made a mess and had no military tactics.
Perhaps he was too impatient and always concentrated his troops, hoping to seize the position with a fierce attack, but the result was that the entire army was annihilated, such as the 1927 Wuhan Battle.
And this was not the first time that Chiang Kai-shek had made such a mistake. He was like this again in Nanchang . He was impatient and only the first division launched an assault on Sun Chuanfang before reinforcements arrived.
That city was completely occupied by Sun Chuanfang. As long as Chiang Kai-shek was introduced, he could catch a turtle in the jar. The most ridiculous thing was that Chiang Kai-shek was really fooled.
At that time, Sun Chuanfang introduced Chiang Kai-shek into some urban areas and then counterattacked. Chiang Kai-shek's army was immediately unable to resist and suffered another major defeat.
Compared with Premier Zhou's evaluation, Chairman Mao's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek was more insightful.
Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek met for the first time at the First National Congress of the Chinese Kuomintang. Chairman Mao was the representative of Hunan at that time, and the two had only met once.
According to Chairman Mao's recollection, when the two met again, Chiang Kai-shek was no longer what he used to be and had become an upstart with a heavy army.
In March 1926, Chairman Mao served as the acting propaganda minister of the Kuomintang and the director of the Peasant Movement Workshop of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China.
Chiang Kai-shek planned the "Zhongshan Ship Incident" in that year to openly oppose the Communist Party.
Chiang Kai-shek's planning of the "Zhongshan Ship Incident" and the "Registration of Party Affairs Case" made Mao Zedong see clearly his anti-communist and anti-people nature. From then on, Mao Zedong decided to part ways with Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek did not know the power of Chairman Mao at that time.
By 1930, Chiang Kai-shek had already regarded Chairman Mao as a serious problem. He freed up his hands and determined southern Jiangxi as the "key point of suppressing bandits" and began to deal with Chairman Mao with all his strength.
At that time, Chiang Kai-shek thought that Chairman Mao was just a scholar, and that Chiang Kai-shek's arrangements would be enough to "wipe out the communist bandits", so he just formulated the "encirclement and suppression" policy and took a group of followers to Lushan , and then returned to Nanjing.
Unexpectedly, Chairman Mao, Zhu De and others made sufficient preparations and convened a meeting of the General Front Committee to study and formulate policies for defeating the enemy.
The first battle against the "encirclement and suppression" was the Longgang battle. Nearly 10,000 people from the two main brigades and one division of the 18th enemy division were wiped out, more than 9,000 weapons of various types were seized, and the enemy's frontline commander and division commander Zhang Huizan was captured alive.
On April 1, 1931, the Kuomintang army of 200,000 troops was divided into four groups and launched a massive attack on the Central Soviet Area, in an attempt to completely eliminate the Red Army commanded by Mao Zedong and others within 3 months and destroy the Central Soviet Area.
What is particularly worth mentioning is that while deploying a military offensive, Chiang Kai-shek ordered He Jian to send people to dig Mao Zedong's ancestral grave.
He Jian, a die-hard anti-communist, immediately sent people to Shaoshanchong to search for Mao Zedong's hometown.
But due to the resourcefulness and bravery of Mao Zedong's fellow villagers, He Jian did not succeed.
Why did Chiang Kai-shek adopt such a despicable approach? Chiang Kai-shek himself was very superstitious.
He believes that the reason why he became successful is because the Feng Shui of his mother's base is good. Mr. Feng Shui said that this is the best dragon vein. The entire terrain resembles a Maitreya Buddha , and the grave is located on the belly button of Maitreya Buddha.
So, in terms of military affairs, his well-equipped army of 100,000 people could not defeat the Zhu Mao Red Army of more than 30,000 people. It must be a problem with the feng shui of Mao Zedong's ancestral tomb - Chiang Kai-shek was convinced of this.
This behavior of Chiang Kai-shek was mentioned to Chairman Mao again in September 1949. Chairman Mao pointedly pointed out that "if they can't win, they will dig up their ancestors' graves." This completely saw through Chiang Kai-shek's despicable face.
Chairman Mao's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek's motivations and his personal evaluation was always very accurate and insightful.
During the negotiations between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party in 1945, all walks of life, including countries around the world, paid great attention to the outcome of the negotiations. When
was still in Chongqing, a celebrity in Chongqing's literary and artistic circles once invited Chairman Mao to give a speech. During the speech, he would immediately ask some questions for Chairman Mao to answer.
Someone asked Chairman Mao in that speech whether Chairman Mao would have the confidence to defeat Chiang Kai-shek if this negotiation failed and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party went to full-scale war.
This question is quite pointed and thought-provoking, and it tests the respondent's speaking ability.
At that time, Chairman Mao did not directly answer this question, but made an article about Chiang Kai-shek's surname.
He said: "Mr. Jiang's word "Chiang" is the word "general" with a grass added on it. He is just a grass-headed general." After saying this, he laughed proudly and heartily.
Everyone present was surprised when they heard this answer, because Chairman Mao not only answered this question in a witty and humorous way, but also pointedly pointed out that Chiang Kai-shek was just a "paper tiger".
However, the person who asked this question obviously wanted to dig out some fierce information, so he then asked Chairman Mao, what does his last name say?
Chairman Mao first looked around at the audience mysteriously, and then said firmly that his "Mao" character was not the "hairy" character written in reverse, but was actually the character "hand" written backwards.
means that as the Communist Party, the political party that represents the fundamental interests of the majority of the Chinese people, it is easy to defeat the Kuomintang, which represents the interests of the minority.
's witty and original explanation made everyone present couldn't help but applaud.
After Chongqing negotiated , Chairman Mao returned to Yan'an. Shortly after returning, he fell seriously ill.
Before leaving, secretary Hu Qiaomu once asked Chairman Mao whether he could come back from this trip to Chongqing.
Chairman Mao first asked them if they were afraid, and then calmly said that negotiation is nothing more than two possibilities, and success will lead to easy return; failure is nothing but jail and beheading. If we go to jail, we will read and study in prison!
Chairman Mao's attitude gave great encouragement to his entourage.
After recovering from a serious illness in Yan'an, Hu Qiaomu accompanied Chairman Mao for a walk. Chairman Mao told him that although Chiang Kai-shek was very fierce, he was also very afraid of things. The current Chiang Kai-shek has never been weaker.
No matter what period he was in, Chairman Mao could clearly see the essence of Chiang Kai-shek's paper tiger and was never afraid of confrontation with him.
In addition to the leaders of our party, there are many people who have made appropriate comments about Chiang Kai-shek.
Chiang Kai-shek is the only one
In the public oral history, Zhang Xueliang once commented on Chiang Kai-shek like this.
He said: I want to ask Chiang Kai-shek if he has a central idea, he doesn’t. Chiang Kai-shek's central idea is himself. How can he get the rights and interests he wants? He will do whatever it takes to get it.
Zhang Xueliang said:
He originally respected Chiang Kai-shek, but later he lost respect. The reason for the disrespect was that he was completely egoistic. He is a self-centered person who only cares about his own interests. He cannot be said to be self-centered.
Zhang Xueliang cited many examples of Chiang Kai-shek’s self-centeredness.
As for dealing with the Communist Party, Zhang Xueliang had conflicts with Chiang Kai-shek more than once.
"...Mr. Jiang, he even has this idea - I am the emperor. He really means this, in his heart, 'I should be respected by others'. In other words, people must obey me, otherwise, they are traitors, so he sees himself as I am the emperor."
He also plays politics.
Zhang Xueliang said: "People criticize him and say that he is a comprador. He is indeed like this. He is speculative. I will use whatever I can to make a profit! ... Later, I became disappointed with him. I thought he must fail. There is no way this approach will fail. I am the only one who thinks about what is going on outside."
Zhang Xueliang also has a thorough understanding of how he uses people.
Zhang Xueliang said: Chiang Kai-shek uses minions instead of talents, because the people under him have no personality.
"For example, among Mr. Jiang's subordinates, how many people quarrel with him as much as I do with him? Very few, like quarrels. I always tell jokes, but Mr. Jiang can't throw me away, and he can't praise me. Mr. Jiang hates me because I'm not so obedient. Sometimes Mr. Jiang even says, should I command you or you command me? Because I want him to do that, so we quarrel."
People under Chiang Kai-shek understand this point of view very well. Wang Xinheng, one of his people, said:
"Mr. Chiang does not use talents, he uses minions. It is said that Mr. Chiang really has a lot of minions. , I don’t know how to use people like He Yingqin . They are all slaves. He scolded He Yingqin: ‘Take off your military uniform and go away. If he says that to me, I will leave immediately… There is also a big difference between Chiang Kai-shek and Zhang Xueliang: "He believes that the only people who can seize power in China are the Communists. Whether he seizes power or not, he (the Communist Party) is Chinese. In other words, this is what I said, others may be able to seize your power. Can you prevent it?" tml22
"Mr. Chiang believed at that time that his first enemy was the Communist Party, not only the Chinese Communist Party, but also foreign communist parties. He could not tolerate communism. He was extremely stubborn, and traditional Chinese ideas were stubborn and could not tolerate the Communist Party. This was a big difference between us."
Chiang Kai-shek was also dishonest in his treatment of others, which Zhang Xueliang emphasized when he evaluated him.
"Mr. Jiang is a person who is very sincere to my subordinates when doing things. He uses people, to put it simply. Later, I gradually understood it. At that time, everyone also understood the miscellaneous army."
"Mr. Jiang is a person who does things. It can also be said that the decline of the Jiang family is related to his approach.I'm talking about people, I'm not talking about Mr. Jiang. How can you play such a trick in doing things? You are completely sincere. Even if you fail, you are still you. Such tricks are of no use. "
Zhang Xueliang had more contact with Chiang Kai-shek, and his judgment of Chiang Kai-shek was also very accurate.
Another foreign leader, although he did not have the opportunity to work with Chiang Kai-shek for a long time, clearly felt that Chiang Kai-shek and Chairman Mao
U.S. President Nixon said that there are both superficial and substantive differences between Chairman Mao and Chiang Kai-shek. l3 Chairman Mao is very easy-going and unrestrained, and his words have a sense of humor, which makes the atmosphere of the conversation very relaxed; when Nixon met with Chiang Kai-shek, he never found any humorous words in him. Chairman Mao's calligraphy is written in letters and informal; Chiang Kai-shek's. The calligraphy is straight and square. The difference between the two of them is more deeply reflected in their patriotic ways. Chairman Mao strives to overturn everything in the past; Chiang Kai-shek strives to build a new country on the old basis. ml3 After the victory, Chairman Mao simplified Chinese characters not only to facilitate writing, but also to eradicate history written in complex Chinese characters. When Chiang Kai-shek was defeated, he still made room in the squadron that transported refugees and transported nearly 400,000 people. 00,000 pieces of ancient Chinese art went to Taiwan, while many of his loyal assistants and soldiers stayed on the mainland. From this passage of Nixon, we can also see what Zhang Xueliang commented that Chiang Kai-shek only cares about his own nature. 4 From Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou to Zhang Xueliang and Nixon, in fact, their evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek can all be summarized in one sentence: Because he is the only one who is supreme, he regards the fate of the country as trivial and his subordinates as slaves. , who can use all means to achieve their goals. Such people are paper tigers that can be defeated. "Blood is Burning." "Records of the Sino-Japanese Battle of Changsha" 175 pages "Comments on Mao Zedong" Mao Zedong commented on the Kuomintang and the Communist Party "Mao Zedong commented on Chiang Kai-shek in 1945: He was very afraid of trouble" China News Network "Zhang Xueliang's evaluation of Chiang Kai-shek in his memoirs" World Socialism Research Impure motives for the country
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