Democracy is obtaining some real beginnings, not because of a sudden lurch in political necessity, nor because of the charm of a theory, but because the firm ground of a common opinion is knitting the country together and affording the limits indispensable to the functioning of democratic techniques; this common opinion, the universal popularity of the war, is based on the resistance-and-reconstruction policy. The same patriotic surge which supports the war supports Chiang, as the hero and chief technician of the war. The political changes which translated Chiang from the status of a Party leader and a new kind of militarist into a real national leader are mirrored in his writings. His published political works now run to a considerable number of volumes, representing collections of his speeches and essays.[16] It would, perhaps, be interesting to note the main trends of his political philosophy, since it serves as the firm ground of his policy. It is possible that no other leader in the world, except Stalin, has satisfied himself so thoroughly with the connection between his own epistemological and ethical presuppositions and his working conclusions in terms of action as has Chiang. [Footnote 16: Some of the recent volumes are: _Lu-shan Hsün-lien Chi Hsüan-chi_ (Collected Papers of the Lu Shan Training Conference), Chungking, 1939; _O-mei Hsün-lien Chi Hsüan-chi_ (Collected Papers of the Omei Training Conference), Chungking, 1939; _Li-hsing Chê-hsiao_ (The Philosophy of Being Practical), Chungking, 1940; _Tsung-ts'ai Chien-kuo Yen-lun Hsüan-chi_ (The Tsung-ts'ai's Utterances on Reconstruction), Chungking, 1940; _Tsung-ts'ai Wai-chiao Yen-lun Hsüan-chi_ (The Tsung-ts'ai's Utterances on Diplomacy), Chungking, 1940; and _Tsung-ts'ai K'ang-chan Yen-lun Hsüan-chi_ (The Tsung-ts'ai's Utterances on Resistance), Chungking, 1940. A collection of the Generalissimo's leading speeches, in English, is in press and is to be issued soon by the China Information Publishing Company, Hong Kong.] THE IDEOLOGY OF CHIANG First and foremost, Chiang accepts the _San Min Chu I_ of Sun Yat-sen, deviating from the letter of these doctrines by no single brush-stroke. In his spirit of interpretation, he follows in general the Rightist exegeses, as represented by the works of Hu Han-min and T'ai Ch'i-t'ao, although he has developed his own conclusions in great part from his first-hand memory of Dr. Sun, and from his own experience. (Needless to say, he is worlds apart from the interpretations given by such Leftists as the Communists, the Third Party, or Mme. Sun, or such ultra-Rightists as the Japanophiles.)