Friends Close, Enemies Closer: The United Front in Action

As both the Guomindang and the Communist Party benefit from their collaboration, tensions build.

Further reading:
Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in China
Steve Smith, A Road Is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927
Alexander Pantsov, The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution, 1919-1927
C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920-1927
Arif Dirlik, “Mass Movements and the Left Kuomintang”

Some names from this episode:
Sun Zhongshan/Sun Yatsen, leader of the Guomindang
Mikhail Borodin, Comintern agent and head of Soviet mission to aid the Guomindang
Chen Jiongming, Southern warlord, ally and then enemy of Sun Yatsen
Chiang Kai-shek, Japan-trained military officer, close confidant of Sun Yatsen
Lev Karakhan, Soviet ambassador to China beginning in 1923
Gregory Chicherin, Soviet People’s Commissar for Foreign Affairs
Chen Duxiu, General Secretary of the Communist Party

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