"miraculous"; but the "miracle" lay in the revolutionary masses of the occupied provinces, who were only waiting the opportunity to rise against their militarist rulers. In many places, indeed, the army did not have to fight, finding that the mere news of their advance had been taken as the signal for the uprising of the people, who drove out the militarists.
Close behind the advancing army came the organization of the workers into the All-China Labor Federation, and the peasants into the Peasants' Union. In less than a year, more than a million peasants in the Peasants' Union, were mobilized. With this organization began the real process of revolution—breaking down the basis of power of militarism, the landlords, corrupt magistrates and gentry of the villages—and an enormous widening of the basis of the revolutionary power. From Canton, under the guns of British Hongkong and close to the sea coast, the National Government moved to Wuhan (Hankow), having under its feet a solid ground of half of China, with the many million masses organized under its direction. Once more it became possible to openly struggle against the forces of counter-revolution entrenched within the revolution itself.
9. Struggle Against Chiang Kai-Shek
The issue upon which the struggle between right and left began was, strangely enough, the question of moving the seat of Government to Wuhan. After agreeing to the move, Chiang Kai Shek caused the official heads of the Government to stop in Nanchang, Kiangsi, while the majority of the Kuomintang Central Committee were in Wuhan, with the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Communications, and Justice. Delay followed delay in completing the move. The Central Committee members in Wuhan set up a Joint Conference to transact Government affairs. Chiang Kai Shek in Nanchang, after greeting the Joint Conference and making proposals to it, changed his mind and denounced it as an illegal body. After negotiations, it was agreed in Nanchang to move to Wuhan on February 9; when that date arrived, postpone-
25
