China Democratic Socialist Party

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This is an alternate history wiki. It mixes fact and fiction, and should not be mistaken for a reliable source.

China Democratic Socialist Party
中國民主社會黨

Details
Active: 1932-present
Leader: Carsun Chang
Ideology: Social democracy
Political position: Center-left
Part of: China Democratic League
International affiliation: Socialist International


The China Democratic Socialist Party was a minor political party in China. It originated in remnants of the Progressive Party, which had opposed Sun Yat-sen and his Kuomintang. The bulk of the Progressives were right-wing to varying degrees, but they included some moderate socialists like Carsun Chung. These socialists admired Sun's "Three Principles of the People" platform but criticized his radical methods and authoritarian model of governance. The Progressive Party fell apart in 1916 and disappeared in 1924, but in 1932 Chung founded the China National Socialist Party (no relation to the Nazi Party) in reaction to Chiang Kai-shek's increasingly dictatorial behavior as KMT leader and Chairman of the Republic of China. The CNSP presented itself as a center-left, democratic alternative to both the KMT and the Chinese Communist Party. In 1937 it merged with the similarly-minded Democratic Constitutionalist Party (another Progressive Party remnant based almost exclusively oversees) and adopted its current name.

The CDSP's small size meant it had little influence on Chinese politics but also meant that neither the KMT nor the CCP saw it as a significant threat, which enabled it to recruit an increasing number of Chinese people frustrated with the former's corruption and the latter's extremism. The party played a key role in forming the China Democratic League in 1939 with two other pro-democratic "third way" parties. The CDL itself would later absorb many KMT dissidents and form the All-China Democratic Movement, which replaced Chiang's KMT as the principal rival to the now-dominant CCP.