Blue Shirts Society - Birth

Birth

The Blue Shirts origins can be traced to the Whampoa Clique of 1924 - professional military officers - many of whom had sworn personal loyalty to Chiang Kai-shek, as well to the ideals of Sun Yat-sen's Three Principles of the People.

After the Northern Expedition of 1927, Chiang and the KMT seized most of China's territories. The government established was in a degree of social crisis: there were tensions as Japan's conquest of Manchuria; Chiang had also formally split the First United Front, the alliance between the KMT and the CCP (Communist Party of China), turning the two parties against each other. The CCP had bases in the cities and to a lesser degree in the countryside, posing a threat to Chiang's government. The KMT itself was not of one mind; divided into several cliques, there were power struggles between Chiang, Hu Hanmin and Wang Jingwei. China was still scourged by corruption, poverty, and infrequent civil war.

Being the foundation of Chiang's rule, some Whampoa graduates felt it time to take action. Consequently, in July 1931, Teng Jie (滕傑) and Xiao Zanyu (蕭贊育) were sent back to China to investigate the threat from Japan and any forthcoming war.

When Teng and Xiao returned to China, they were upset to find the KMT, in their eyes, "gravitating toward decadence". Teng designed a blueprint to reform the KMT, suggesting a single great and powerful leader could save China and the KMT. The leader could rule by all means, hopefully as a benevolent dictator. Chiang was a sound candidate, and over the following months Teng traveled around the capital of Nanjing seeking support from Whampoa fellows.

Teng was acquainted with Zeng Kuoqing (曾擴情), among the first graduates of Whampoa, and the man in charge of the Whampoa Alumni Association. Because the KMT banned organized political parties, Teng and Zeng searched for alumni in secret. Zeng used his influence and personal relations among Whampoa graduates to organize periodic meetings to discuss Teng's plan.

After several months the group included prominent Whampoa graduates, including He Zhonghan (賀衷寒), widely regarded one of The Three Most Outstanding Whampoa graduates (the other two being CCP members Jiang Xianyun (蔣先雲) and Chen Geng (陳賡), the patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group at that time); Hu Zongnan (胡宗南)，a rising young general in Chiang's National Revolutionary Army; Deng Wenyi (鄧文儀 )，another patriarch of the Sun Yat-sen Theory Research Group and a secretary to Chiang, and; Feng Ti (丰悌), the Commissar of the 1st Division of the KMT army. Another prominent, although publicly unknown figure, became notorious as the Lavrentiy Beria of China; Chiang's head of the KMT Secret Police, Dai Li (戴笠).

In September 1931, in the third meeting of the group, an organization to reform the KMT and fight against Japan was decided. Under the direction of He Zhonghan, this group was named the Society of the Practice of Three Principles of People (三民主義力行社, SPTPP). Teng was elected General Secretary. The party also issued guidance on the establishment, discipline and organization of members, and confirmed its main mission as follows:

1. use secret measures to fight against the Japanese, the CCP, other KMT cliques, and ensure the Whampoa clique's domination of the KMT and China;

2. use the public image of the Whampoa Alumni Association to enroll new members and set up a formal, well-organized and highly disciplined group.

Funds were mainly raised by Deng, who ran the KMT's Party Book Shop, a publishing house for party-political propaganda. Furthermore, to avoid arrest under the KMT's political organization ban, members decided not to tell Chiang Kai-shek of their plan, even while regarding him as their spiritual mentor and leader.

Before long Kang Ze (康澤), who published the China Daily newspaper with the permission of Chiang, became the mouthpiece of the SPTPP.

In December 1931, under pressure both inside and outside the KMT, Chiang resigned. While in retirement at his hometown in Zhejiang, Chiang showed growing interest in Benito Mussolini's fascism. Deng subsequently let Chiang know of the existence of the SPTPP. Chiang summoned He, Teng and Kang to a meeting, where he announced his idea for a more formal and disciplined organization like those in Italy and Germany. Thus specific rules and articles to guide the party were drafted.

With support from Chiang, Teng designed a hierarchical organization style. At the top was Chiang, with the foundations made from the elite of Whampoa graduates. New members could only be accepted with two recommendations and approval from Chiang himself. Members were not allowed to resign unless the group faced dissolution. If there was any violation of discipline, members would receive severe punishment - perhaps even execution.

In 1932 Chiang regained the presidency after a power struggle between his opponents. Hoping to speed reform of the SPTPP, in a secret meeting in February Gui Yongqing (桂永清)， a member of the SPTPP, recommended Liu Jianqun (劉健羣) as a suitable candidate. Liu, He Yingqin's (何應欽) secretary, contributed much to the group.

Liu was heavily influenced by the book The Truth of Fascism, written by a liberal Italian. Liu became one of the most enthusiastic advocates of fascism in China, writing a pamphlet called Some Opinions On The Reform of the KMT. In this, Liu proposed reform of the KMT be enforced via a group of elites established and organized along the lines of Mussolini's MVSN or Blackshirts. Members would wear blue shirts to pledge their allegiance. Accordingly, the leader should encourage by his sublime, superior spirit. Under the direction of the leader, all members would live simple and disciplined lives, and all cadres would be treated equally, with incomes and lives under strict supervision. Violation would be severely punished. In return, the people would entrust property and their families to the country and the supreme leader. Public responsibilities would depend on ability, from military service to absolute obedience of orders including surveillance of one's neighborhoods. Lives would be divided into stages, including a young wing. Thus, China would be turned into a militarized society, with a three tier organization, highest to lowest: Supreme Leader - Blue Shirt Society - People.

Liu Jianqun ordered membership be kept a secret:

"With a view to attaining the object of immediately overthrowing the feudal influences, exterminating the Red Bandits, and dealing with foreign insult, members of the Blue Shirts Society should conduct in secret their activities in various provinces, xian, and cities, except for the central Guomindang headquarters and other political organs whose work must be executed in an official manner."

Chiang met with Liu and appreciated his theory, leading to the evolution of the SPTPP into the Blue Shirt Society (BSS). In March 1932, under cover of an existing club called the Spirit Encouragement Society (勵志社)，the SPTPP officially announced its establishment. Although Liu's proposal that members wear blue shirts and name their society after the blue shirts was not accepted, the SPTPP was privately known as the BSS from then on. In its formal opening ceremony, Teng was elected General Secretary, with He, Kang as Standing Secretariat. The BSS consisted of six divisions: Secretariat, Organization, Propaganda, Military, Special Agency and Logistics. The secret society reached its peak, with the BSS infiltrating the country's political system, military and even the everyday lives of people.