Chiangism

Doctrine

Anti-imperialism and Chinese nationalism

Chiang Kai-shek, the head of the Kuomintang, warned the Soviet Union and other foreign countries about interfering in Chinese affairs. He was personally angry at the way China was treated by foreigners, mainly by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Chiang's New Life Movement campaigned for the end of Soviet, Western, American, and other foreign influences in China. Chen Lifu, a CC Clique member of the KMT, said, "Communism originated from Soviet imperialism, which has encroached on our country." It was also noted that "the white bear of the North Pole is known for its viciousness and cruelty."

Chiang was also staunchly against imperialism and colonialism, as he opposed FDR's offer of China's seizure of Indochina and argued that China had no intent to replace Western imperialism with its own. He also viewed foreign powers, including the US, the USSR, and the Empire of Japan as imperialist powers that wanted to exploit China.

Chiang promoted strong Chinese nationalism throughout the territories controlled by the ROC as well as the Tridemist ideal of a unified "Dang Guo" (Party-state), to solidify its rule and ideological supremacy. Mandarin Chinese became the sole official language, and standard education curriculums emphasized Chinese history with Confucianism culture.

As an opponent of Japanese imperialism, Chiang was a supporter of the Korean independence movement. Under the Nationalist government, the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea received political asylum and support, and the secret militant branch Blue Shirts Society (BSS) supported left-wing nationalist Kim Won-bong and Kim-led Korean National Revolutionary Party.

To promote the cultural legitimacy of his regime in contrast to the PRC led by the Communists, which was engaging in the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, Chiang launched the Chinese Cultural Renaissance in Taiwan to promote Chinese culture and traditional values.

Land reform and Georgism

Chiang, a committed Tridemist, supported attempts at land reform in-lieu of Georgist principles. In a 1924 interview with the New York American, reprinted in Land and Freedom, Chiang states:

We have neither capitalists nor great land owners. We have no problems that bother great industrial nations. We have only a land problem but no great landlords. We mean to adopt as a policy the rule that the government shall either tax or buy all lands according to values fixed by their owners. When the landlord has fixed the value and the Government has recorded it, the value of land the government does not buy increases. The increased value shall go to the government.

Anti-capitalism and socialism

The Kuomintang was a Chinese nationalist revolutionary party that had been supported by the Soviet Union. It was organized on Leninism. Contrary to the view that he was pro-capitalist, Chiang Kai-shek behaved in an antagonistic manner to the capitalists in China, often attacking them and confiscating their capital and assets for the use of the government.

Chiang cracked down on pro-communist unions and peasant organizations, and the wealthy Shanghai capitalists at the same time. Chiang Kai-shek continued Sun's anti-capitalist ideology. The Republic of China's media openly attacked the capitalists and capitalism, supporting a government-controlled economy instead of privately owned ones.

Historian Jay Taylor has noted that Chiang's hybrid revolutionary nationalism ideology is inspired by both the French republican movement and Confucianism. He described Chiang as a "left-leaning Confucian-Jacobinist".

Anti-communism and fascist influences

The Blue Shirts Society, also known under a variety of other names, has been described as one of the most relevant fascistic or ultranationalist groups in China at the time. It began as a secret society in the KMT military before being reformed within the party. By the 1930s, it had influence upon China's economy and society. Historian Jeffrey Crean notes, however, that the Blue Shirts impacted only elite politics, not the vast majority of China's population. The Blue Shirts held contempt for liberal democracy and stressed the political usefulness of violence. They were influenced by KMT contact with Nazi advisors and inspired by the German Brownshirts and the Italian Blackshirts. Unlike those organizations, however, the Blue Shirts were composed of political elites, not the popular masses. The later New Life Movement drew inspirations from the society, although some historians are reluctant to define them as fascist.

Close Sino-German ties also promoted cooperation between Nazi Germany and the Nationalist government. The Kuomintang sought to build a one-party ideological state in China, called Dang Guo, to solidify its rule and ideological supremacy.

Chiang started the New Life Movement under Confucian ideals. It was a government-led civic campaign in the 1930s Republic of China to promote cultural reform and Neo-Confucian social morality and to ultimately unite China under a centralized ideology following the emergence of ideological challenges to the status quo. The movement itself was modeled on Confucianism, mixed with Christianity, nationalism, and authoritarianism that have some similarities to fascism, and thus, it rejected individualism and liberalism. The Kuomintang launched the initiative on 19 February 1934 as part of an anti-communist campaign and soon enlarged the campaign to target all of China. Some historians regard this movement as imitating Nazism and regard this movement as being a neo-nationalistic movement used to elevate Chiang's control of everyday lives. Frederic Wakeman suggested that the New Life Movement was "Confucian fascism". In a 1935 speech, Chiang stated that "fascism is what China now most needs" and described fascism as the stimulant for a declining society. Mao once derogatorily compared Chiang to Adolf Hitler, referring to him as the "Führer of China".

Jay Taylor argues that Chiang's ideology does not espouse the general ideology of fascism despite his growing sympathies with fascist ideas in the 1930s. Chiang repeatedly attacked his enemies such as the Empire of Japan as fascistic and ultra-militaristic; he also declared his opposition to the fascist ideology in the 1940s. A. James Gregor rejects categorizing it as fascist, arguing that the regime lacked the totalitarian mass mobilization of European fascism and functioned instead as a form of developmental nationalism or military authoritarianism.

In July 1932, Chiang expressed his opposition to attempts to introduce a fascist system in China in front of reporters, asking, "how is this any different from the Communists' desire to turn China into a communist state?" Chiang believed that the Three Principles of the People was the best ideology, and he demanded that his subordinates "ideologically, if they lean to the left, must not emulate the communists; if they lean to the right, must not emulate the fascists.". The Sino-German relationship deteriorated as Germany failed to pursue a détente between China and Japan, which led to the outbreak of the Second Sino-Japanese War; China later declared war on the Axis powers in 1941. Despite the influences of fascism on the Kuomintang's ideology, some historians debate classifying Chiang's rule as fascist.

Authoritarian capitalism

After the government of the Republic of China moved to Taiwan, Chiang Kai-shek's economic policy turned towards to economic liberalism. He used Sho-Chieh Tsiang and other liberal economists to promote economic liberalization reforms in Taiwan.

However, Jay Taylor has noted that the developmental model of Chiangism in Taiwan still had elements of socialism, and the Gini index of Taiwan was around 0.28 by the 1970s, lower than the relatively equal West Germany. ROC (Taiwan) was one of the most equal countries in the pro-western bloc. The lower 40% income group doubled their income share to 22% of total income, with the upper 20% shrinking from 61% to 39%, compared to Japanese rule. The Chiangist economic model can be seen as a form of dirigisme or bureaucratic capitalism, with the state playing a crucial role in directing the market economy. Unlike most other major capitalist countries, small businesses and state-owned enterprises flourished under this economic model in Taiwan, but it didn't see the emergence of corporate monopolies.

After the democratization of Taiwan, it began to slowly drift away from the Chiangist economic policy to embrace a more free market system as part of the economic globalization process under the context of neoliberalism.

Anti-separatism

The Kuomintang (especially under the rule of Chiang), being anti-separatist, claims sovereignty over Outer Mongolia and Tuva as well as the territories of the modern People's Republic and Republic of China. Nationalist irredentism, especially in conceptions of "Greater China", were used by Kuomintang propaganda, especially calling for the reclamation of Taiwan from Japanese rule, and other territory taken by foreign powers.

Legacy

The impact of Chiangism as an ideology can still be felt across both mainland China and Taiwan. Historian Rana Mitter argued that the People's Republic of China today is closer to Chiang's vision than to Mao's and wrote, "One can imagine Chiang Kai-shek's ghost wandering round China today nodding in approval, while Mao's ghost follows behind him, moaning at the destruction of his vision".

Various political parties across the Pan-Blue coalition continue to uphold the Three Principles of the People, as well as, at least partially, Chiang and his legacy. In the 21st century, these parties generally emphasize Chiang's role in defending Taiwan from communism and laying the groundwork for the Taiwan's economic development. While acknowledging the complexities of the authoritarian era, the Pan-Blue platform focuses on preserving the constitutional framework of the Republic of China and promoting the traditional Chinese cultural values as contrasted with mainland China (governed by the People's Republic of China).

Some fringe groups, including the National Socialism Association, a neo-Nazi Chinese ultranationalist group, publicly championed the rhetoric and philosophies of Chiangism.