Chapter 125: The Father of Chinese Constitutionalism

The Tang Cabinet is very optimistic about the Alliance.

Tang Shaoyi resigned under Yuan Shikai's persecution and all kinds of difficulties, which led to the collapse of the Tang cabinet and made Song Jiaoren and others feel that party politics must be realized. Only by forming a cabinet by a political party can it compete with Yuan Shikai's dictatorship.

Although the League is the largest party in parliament, it is still far from being able to form an independent government. To achieve this, it is necessary to unite other small groups in order to become a truly strong party. Therefore, Song Jiaoren strongly advocated the reorganization of the League again.

Grandchild. Middle. In July 1912, the headquarters of the League convened two reorganization meetings, and the majority of the members agreed to the reorganization.

After the meeting, Soong Jiaoren actively embarked on the reorganization work, first seeking to unite with the United Republican Party and the Kuomintang Party.

On August 7, representatives of the three parties held a meeting to reach an agreement on the name of the party and the party program. The National Progressive Association and the Republican Practical Association also agreed to join the merger.

On 5 September, the party deputies held a meeting to adopt the "Declaration on the Formation of the Kuomintang Party" drafted by Soong Jiao-jen and Yang Nansheng, and publicly announced it in the name of the five parties: the League, the Republican Party, the Kuomintang Communist, the Kuomintang Progressive Association, and the Republican Practical Progressive Association.

On the same day, Sun Yat-sen and Huang Xing jointly sent a telegram to all branches of the League, asking them to "seek consent" to the reorganization, explaining that the change of the name of the association was timely.

On 15 September, the Kuomintang held a formal inaugural meeting at the Huguang Hall in Beijing. Middle. Shan attended the conference and gave a speech. The congress announced the founding of the Kuomintang, elected Sun Yat-sen as the chairman, and Huang Xing, Song Jiaoren, Wu Jinglian and other eight people as directors.

The KMT's party pragmatism was presided over by Song Jiaoren.

The Kuomintang aims to "consolidate the republic and practice civilian politics" and takes maintaining political unity, developing local autonomy, promoting ethnic assimilation, adopting policies for people's livelihood, and maintaining international peace as its political program. From the point of view of its purpose and party program, while vigorously expanding its organizational strength, the Kuomintang advocated a responsible cabinet to divide Yuan Shikai's powers, actively defended the republican system and opposed autocracy, and was in an opposing position with Yuan Shikai on many issues, uniting a considerable part of the political forces opposing Yuan Shikai's dictatorship.

The Kuomintang has also been strengthened.

Song Jiaoren (April 5, 1882 - March 22, 1913), the word is respectful, the name is the beginning, also known as the blunt beginning, the beginning of the link, the beginning of the Dun, alias the fisherman, the pseudonym of Qianzhai, Song Qi, Zhongdao, etc., Xiangchong, Shangfang Village, Xianrui Township, Taoyuan County, Changde City, Hunan Province (now Xiangchong Group, Jiaoren Village, Zhangjiang Town). One of the pioneers of China's modern revolution, he is known as the "father of Chinese constitutionalism".

In the eighth year of Guangxu of the Qing Dynasty (1882), Song Jiaoren was born in Taoyuan, Changde, Hunan. In the fourteenth year of Guangxu (1888), the six-year-old Song Jiaoren entered a private school to study. In the twenty-fifth year of Guangxu (1899), Song Jiaoren enrolled in Taoyuan Zhangjiang Academy.

In the twenty-seventh year of Guangxu (1901), Song Jiaoren was admitted to show talent. In the twenty-eighth year of Guangxu (1902), Song Jiaoren went to Wuchang to apply for the ordinary middle school of Anglican Wenhua College in the United States (now Central China Normal University), and was admitted with the first place. The following year, he entered the school, and during his time at school, he was attracted by the gathering of the revolutionary group organized by Wu Luzhen in Wuchang Garden Mountain, and he often discussed current affairs with his classmates.

In August of the 29th year of Guangxu (1903), Song Jiaoren became acquainted with Huang Xing and became close friends. At the same time, because of dissatisfaction with the Qing government. He began to lean towards revolution. On November 4, he initiated the establishment of Huaxing Association with Huang Xing, Liu Kuiyi, Chen Tianhua, Zhang Shizhao and others.

On February 25, the thirtieth year of Guangxu (1904), the Huaxing Society was formally established in Changsha West Park with the purpose of "driving out the Tartars and restoring China", and Huang Xing was elected as the president and Song Jiaoren as the vice president; In July, it initiated the establishment of a "scientific tutorial school" in Wuchang; In November, an uprising against the Qing government was planned in Changsha. However, Song Jiaoren sneaked to Japan and arrived in Japan on December 13 of that year. [

In June of the 31st year of Guangxu (1905), he founded the revolutionary magazine "Twentieth Century Zhina" and enrolled in Hosei University in Japan. During his stay in Japan, he was particularly interested in the capitalist social system and read extensively on the political theories and social systems of Western capitalism. He also translated various manuscripts, including The Constitution of Japan, The Russian Revolution, An Overview of the British System, A Brief History of the International Socialist Party Congress, The Police System of Various Countries, A Chronology of World History, An Overview of the Russian System, An Overview of the Australian and Hungarian Systems, The Fiscal Systems of Belgium, Australia-Hungary, and Russia, and An Overview of the American System. From these translation works, Song Jiaoren systematically mastered theoretical knowledge and gained a very deep understanding of the political, economic, and legal systems of important countries in the world at that time.

In August, he supported Sun Yat-sen in establishing the China League in Tokyo, Japan, joined and served as the chief prosecutor of the Ministry of Justice, and at the same time changed the "20th Century Zhina" into the organ newspaper of the China League, "Minbao".

In the 32nd year of Guangxu (1906), Song Jiaoren once returned to China and engaged in anti-Qing activities in the three eastern provinces, and later went to Japan again to avoid pursuit.

During this period, based on the results of his detectives, he compiled the book "The Problem of the Island of the Interior". The government's future protection of the Tumen Jiangjian Island area provides strong evidence.

In the 33rd year of Guangxu (1907), Huang Xing went to Annan to seek affairs and recommended Song Jiaoren to act as the general secretary of the League, and Song Jiaoren began to preside over the daily work of the League and participate in all confidential affairs.

At the end of the second year of Xuantong (1910), Song Jiaoren returned to Shanghai from Japan and served as the chief writer of "Minli Bao", writing a large number of articles propagating the revolution under the pseudonym of "Fisherman".

In the third year of Xuantong (1911), Song Jiaoren went to ** to participate in the preparations for the Guangzhou Uprising; In July, Song Jiaoren, Tan Renfeng, and Chen Qimei established the Central General Association of the China League in Shanghai, and personally served as the general affairs officer. On October 10, the Wuchang Uprising broke out, and on October 28, Song Jiaoren and Huang Xing arrived in Wuchang together to participate in the legal work of the revolution and participate in the drafting of the "Ezhou Provisional Draft Law"; On November 13, he left Wuchang and went to Shanghai; At the beginning of December, he arrived in Nanjing.

On January 1, the first year of the Republic of China (1912), the Republic of China was established in Nanjing, and Song Jiaoren was appointed as the president of the Legislative Yuan, and drafted the draft constitution "Provisional ** Organization Law of the Republic of China"; On April 27, he was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Forestry in Tang Shaoyi's cabinet; In July, dissatisfied with Yuan Shikai's destruction of the "Provisional Covenant", he resigned as the chief of agriculture and forestry; On July 21, he was elected as the director of the General Affairs Department of the Alliance, presiding over the work of the Alliance; On August 25, the Kuomintang was founded, elected as a director, and was appointed acting chairman by Sun Yat-sen.

On February 13, the second year of the Republic of China (1913), Song Jiaoren went down the east of the Yangtze River from Hankou and arrived in Shanghai on February 15, where he stayed at Huang Xing's house at No. 21 Tongfu Road. With the Kuomintang winning the election and the expected formation of a responsible cabinet, Sun Yat-sen did not hold direct consultations with Soong Jiaoren on relevant matters, but instead went to Japan on 10 February by Yamashiromaru for an unhurried inspection visit after secret telegraphic consultations with Yuan Shikai.

On 19 February, Soong Jiao-jen delivered a speech at the Kuomintang's Shanghai Ministry of Communications, in which he explicitly set aside the five-power constitution invented by Sun Yat-sen and expounded his own constitutional idea of separation of powers: "Discussing the Constitution, how the executive, legislative, and judicial powers should be distributed, and how the relationship between the central and local governments and their powers should be stipulated. Next, he once again completely denied Yuan Shikai's politics with fierce rhetoric. The domestic and foreign affairs of the government authorities believe that only the Kuomintang side has come forward to organize a parliamentary party responsible cabinet to cure the "bad government." "Doctor" of the house";

In March, the election of the first National Assembly of the Republic of China was basically over, and under the auspices of Soong Jiaoren, the Kuomintang won a major victory. There are 596 members of the House of Representatives, of whom 269 are for the Kuomintang, 120 for the Republicans, 18 for the United Party, 16 for the Democratic Party, 147 for the Cross-Party and 26 for the Non-Party.

There are 274 members of the Senate, of whom 123 are for the Kuomintang, 55 for the Republicans, 6 for the United Party, 8 for the Democratic Party, 38 for the Independents, and 44 for the Non-Party.

The Kuomintang holds 392 of the 870 seats in the Senate and the House of Representatives, and although it does not have more than half of the seats, since the Republican, Democratic, and United Parties together have only 223 seats, the Kuomintang can still influence and manipulate the Senate and the House of Representatives by virtue of its absolute superiority. It can be said that the goal of forming a government of the Kuomintang with the efforts of Soong Jiao-jen and others has been achieved.

The KMT's election victory further raised Soong's political expectations and political enthusiasm.

On January 10, 1913, Yuan Shikai issued a formal order to convene the National Assembly, ordering all elected senators and representatives to gather in Beijing in March of the same year. On 19 March, Yuan Shikai sent another telegram to the whole country, announcing that the opening ceremony of the National Assembly would be held on 8 April.

As a representative of the Kuomintang who won the general election, Song Jiaoren was invited by Yuan Shikai to go from Shanghai to Beijing to discuss national affairs.

At 10 o'clock on 20 March, Song Jiaoren and important Kuomintang figures Huang Xing and Yu Youren, who had come to see him off, arrived at the station.

At 10:40, when Song Jiaoren walked to the ticket gate surrounded by everyone, after a dull gunshot, Song Jiaoren covered his abdomen and said painfully: "I was shot." ”

The entire platform was in chaos. At this time, I saw a person desperately escaping from the platform and running to the exit, falling twice in a row, and then escaping east along the station railing. In the chaos, Huang Xing and others escorted Song Jiaoren to the outside of the station and stopped a car, because the right Ren sent Song Jiaoren to the Shanghai-Nanjing Railway Hospital, the rest of the people stayed in the hope of catching the murderer.

At this time, there was not a single patrol officer on the entire platform.