In the April of 1927, Kuomintang forces attacked members of the Chinese Communist Party in Shanghai. They were aided by urban gangsters and warlord militias. During the attack, several hundreds of communists were arrested and tortured. Most of them were executed or assassinated. History remembers this incident as the Shanghai Massacre. It is also known as the April 12th Incident in Nationalist circles.
The Shanghai Massacre was a pivotal moment in the Chinese Revolution; it marked the end of the First United Front between the Nationalists and the Chinese Communist Party. It also triggered a nationwide elimination of communists by the Kuomintang.
The Shanghai Massacre was followed by several years of anti-communist violence, widely known as the White Terror. The communists who survived the violence and attacks were either forced to flee to rural and provincial areas outside Kuomintang control, or go underground. But the communists did not give up altogether; they reassessed their revolutionary strategy and waited for a comeback. After April 1927, Soviet support for the Nationalists ceased as well.
Picture Credit : Google
