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PROBLEMS OF WAR AND STRATEGY 223

such phenomena. In most of China, Party organizational work and
mass work are directly linked with armed struggle; there is not,
and cannot be, any Party work or mass work that is isolated and
stands by itself. Even in rear areas remote from the battle zones
(like Yunnan, Kweichow and Szechuan) and in enemy-occupied areas
(like Peiping, Tientsin, Nanking and Shanghai), Party organizational
work and mass work are co-ordinated with the war, and should and
must exclusively serve the needs of the front. In a word, the whole
Party must pay great attention to war, study military matters and
prepare itself for fighting.

II. THE WAR HISTORY OF THE KUOMINTANG

It will be useful for us to look at the history of the Kuomintang
and see what attention it pays to war.
From the start, when he organized a small revolutionary group,
4
Sun Yat-sen staged armed insurrections against the Ching Dynasty.
The period of Tung Meng Hui (the Chinese Revolutionary League)
5
was replete with armed insurrections, right up to the armed overthrow
of the Ching Dynasty by the Revolution of 1911. Then, during the
period of the Chinese Revolutionary Party, he carried out a military
6
campaign against Yuan Shih-kai. Subsequent events such as the
southern movement of the naval units, the northern expedition from
7
8
9
Kweilin and the founding of the Whampoa Military Academy were
also among Sun Yat-sen’s military undertakings.
After Sun Yat-sen came Chiang Kai-shek, who brought the
Kuomintang’s military power to its zenith. He values the army as
his very life and has had the experience of three wars, namely, the
Northern Expedition, the Civil War and the War of Resistance
Against Japan. For the last ten years Chiang Kai-shek has been a
counter-revolutionary. He has created a huge “Central Army” for
counter-revolutionary purposes. He has held firmly to the vital point
that whoever has an army has power and that war decides everything.
In this respect we ought to learn from him. In this respect both Sun
Yat-sen and Chiang Kai-shek are our teachers.
Since the Revolution of 1911, all the warlords have clung to their
armies for dear life, setting great store by the principle, “Whoever
has an army has power.”