Management of student political activism in China : the Guomindang Policy, 1927-1945

Abstract

This thesis is concerned with how the Guomindang (GMD) dealt with the issue of student political activism from the establishment of the Nanjing Government to the end of the Second Sino-Japanese War. Prior to its assumption of power in 1927, the GMD had allied with the Chinese Communist Party, and was officially committed to a policy of harnessing the political activism of students to assist in its campaigns to overpower the warlords and to unify China. The break up of the alliance and the purging of Chinese Communists from its rank and file did not put an immediate end to this policy of student political participation. Although some elements within the GMD were quick in wanting to move away from this course of action, others remained committed. As a result, in its initial years of power, a lively debate developed within the Party and the controversy centered on what to do with politicized student unions. The proclamation of a set of restrictive regulations on such unions in January 1930 signalled the end of the debate and the beginning of a student policy of depoliticization. Under the new laws, student unions were henceforth prohibited from adopting internal political structures, forging inter-school linkages and organizing political activities. Apart from these prohibitive laws, the GMD also undertook other measures such as the teaching of GMD ideology and policies in schools, the involvement of students in the New Life Movement, the cultivation of pro-GMD student cadres, and later the wartime expansion of party and youth corps branches into schools. However, these measures did not represent departures from the policy of depoliticization; rather they were integral parts of it. After all, depoliticization is a political act and one therefore needs to take into consideration the politics of depoliticization. All these measures had certain political dimensions, but they were not invitations for students to indulge in political activism. Instead, the GMD intended them as tools to check student radicalism and as politico-educational instruments to mould a new generation which would share the fflD's political outlook, including its wish for students to shun activism, and to concentrate on academic pursuits and self-cultivation. Show more