“A Successful Method”: The Chinese Reception of the Russian Revolutionary Model in the 1920s

Capisani, Lorenzo M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-35529-6_9

“A Successful Method”: The Chinese Reception of the Russian Revolutionary Model in the 1920s

Lorenzo M. Capisani⁴

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First Online: 08 February 2020

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Part of the book series: Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World ((SCCCW))

Abstract

Capisani provides insights on the Russian Revolution and its adaptation in China, stressing the impact it had on the Nationalist Party and on its leader, Sun Yat-sen. Particular attention is dedicated to the renewal of the nationalist agenda and its transformation after World War I, considering both long- and short-term processes. The First Congress of the Nationalist Party, the May Thirtieth Movement and the Northern Expedition are deemed key moments. The alliance of the nationalists with Soviet Russia and the Chinese communists is analyzed as a specific case study of the Comintern strategy in Asia. Its vicissitudes are linked to the political struggles in Moscow, especially in the last stages of cooperation.

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Notes

1.
I would like to thank Professor Agostino Giovagnoli and Professor Elisa Giunipero. This chapter is based on the doctoral work: Lorenzo M. Capisani, China from Empire to Nation-State: The Definition of a Political Space in the 1920s (2017).
2.
A few examples of reference works: Tony Saich and Benjamin Yang, The Rise to Power of the Chinese Communist Party: Documents and Analysis (Armonk-London: M.E. Sharp, 1996). Arif Dirlik, Revolution and History: The Origins of Marxist Historiography in China, 1919–1937 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978).
3.
This was the case in Italy, where a socialist party had been active since 1892. After World War I, the missed opportunity for a revolution, following an escalation of social conflicts, caused criticisms of the main party leaders, even though they were maximalist and the reformists were in a minority. The Italian Communist Party was founded at the Congress of Livorno (1921) by a smaller separatist group, in accordance with the twenty-one conditions set by Lenin at the Second Congress of Comintern. See: Paolo Spriano, Storia del Partito Comunista Italiano, Vol. 1 (Torino: Einaudi, 1967), 31–48.
4.
Jurgen Osterhammel, The Transformation of the World. A Global History of the Nineteenth Century (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), 514–571.
5.
Serge Wolikow, L’Internazionale comunista. Il sogno infranto del partito mondiale della rivoluzione (1919–43) (Roma: Carocci, 2016), 25–126. Andrea Graziosi, L’Urss di Lenin e Stalin. Storia dell’Unione Sovietica 1914–1945 (Bologna: Mulino, 2007), 89–252. Edward H. Carr, The Russian Revolution. From Lenin to Stalin (New York: Free Press, Macmillan, 1979).
6.
Silvio Pons, The Global Revolution. A History of International Communism, 1917–1991 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), 7–65.
7.
Michael Weiner, ‘Comintern in East Asia, 1919–39’, in Kevin McDermott and Jeremy Agnew, The Comintern. A History of International Communism from Lenin to Stalin (Basingstoke, London: Macmillan, 1996), 158–190.
8.
Eleven years after the First Opium War, Karl Marx analyzed the impact of foreign economic activity on the Chinese economy. Because the Asian country tended to lose hard currency in silver, he argued that its capability of absorbing the commodities of European factories was going to end. Therefore, Marx argued that a crisis of prices in the East and the subsequent crisis in European exports could turn into a spark for revolutions in the West. Cf. Dispatches for the New York Tribune: Selected Journalism of Karl Marx (London: Penguin Books, 2007), pp. 3–10.
9.
Second Congress of the Communist International. Minutes of the Proceedings (London: New Park Publications, 1977), 109–183.
10.
Tony Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in China. The role of Sneevliet (Alias Maring) (Leiden: Brill, 1991), pp. 1–198. Michael Williams, ‘Sneevliet and the Birth of Asian Communism’, New Left Review, Vol. 123 (1980): 81–90.
11.
Simplified Chinese characters and the Pinyin romanization have been preferred where different transliterations are not commonly used. The Chinese texts have been translated by the author, where English translations are not already available. The chosen acronyms are those most commonly used in other sources.
12.
The examination of the CCP’s early history and its relationship with Comintern would require a separate work. For this reason, this chapter mostly refers to secondary sources on communist-related topics.
13.
Marianne Bastid-Bruguière, ‘La crisi delle istituzioni imperiali e l’esperienza repubblicana’, in M. Scarpari and G. Samarani, La Cina, Vol. 3 (Torino: Einaudi, 2009), pp. 50–79. Guido Samarani, La Cina del Novecento. Dalla fine dell’Impero a oggi (Torino: Einaudi, 2008), 65–92. Jonathan D. Spence, The Search for Modern China (New York, London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1990), 300–402. C. Martin Wilbur, ‘The Nationalist Revolution in China, 1923–1928’, in Denis Twitchett and John K. Fairbank (ed.), The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 12 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983), 527–720.
14.
General regulations of the Chinese Revolutionary Party [中华革命党总章], 08.07.1914, in Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen [孙中山全集], Vol. 3 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chuban, 1984), 97–102.
15.
Public notice and statute of the Chinese Nationalist Party [中国国民党通告及规约], 10.10.1919, in Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen, Vol. 5 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chuban, 1985), 127–131.
16.
The Chinese Reconstruction and the Relations to Russia (D.4), 10.01.1922, in Saich, The Origins of the First United Front in China, 229–231.
17.
Even a historian such as John K. Fairbank has stated that, before 1923, Sun’s theories could hardly be considered a coherent ideology; see: John K. Fairbank and Merle Goldman, China. A New History (Cambridge, London: Harvard University Press, 2006), 285.
18.
Treaty series n. 723, 06.02.1922, in Foreign Relations of the United States, 1922, vol. 1 (Washington: United States Government Printing Office, 1938), 276–281.
19.
Brian T. George, ‘The State Department and Sun Yat-sen: American Policy and the Revolutionary Disintegration of China, 1920–1924’, Pacific Historical Review, Vol. 46 (3), 1977: 387–408.
20.
Joint declaration of Sun Yat-sen and Joffe [孙中山与越飞联合宣言], 26.01.1923, in Reference Materials on CCP History [中共党史参考资料], Vol. 2 (Beijing: Renmin Chubanshe, 1979), 553.
21.
Ibid.
22.
Fairbank, Goldman, China, 281.
23.
Marie-Claire Bergère, Sun Yat-sen (Paris: Fayard, 1994), 309.
24.
SHAC (Second Historical Archives of China, Nanjing), Historical materials on the meetings of the GMD First and Second National Congresses [中国国民党第一、二全国代表大会会议史料] (Beijing: Jiangsu Guji Chubanshe, 1986), 3–105.
25.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 4–7.
26.
The term used for “the part of the revolution” is gemindang [革命党], which literally means “revolutionary party.” It can refer to the organization that replaced the old Nationalist Party, but that substitution occurred only in 1914. In this case, Sun was probably referring to the wider coalition of forces that made the fall of the Empire and the birth of the Republic possible. It is interesting that he accentuated the revolutionary nature of the early Nationalist Party, notwithstanding its electoral goals.
27.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 5.
28.
Recent studies have disputed this interpretation, stating that the 1911 revolution was rather incidental. Some authors argued that the foundations of modern China laid in the reforms called the New Policies, launched by the Dowager Empress Cixi during the late imperial period, immediately after the Boxer Uprising. See: Joseph W. Esherick and C. X. George Wei (ed.), China: How The Empire Fell? (Abingdon: Routledge, 2014).
29.
The term for the Russian revolutionary party, Eguo gemindang, referred to the CPSU. As we have seen, the word gemindang was used shortly before to refer to the forces that led to the 1911 revolution. Sun established a parallel between Russian and Chinese revolutions for their alleged similarities.
30.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 10.
31.
For example, refer to: Hans J. Van De Ven, From Friend to Comrade: The Founding of the Chinese Communist Party, 1920–1927 (Berkeley, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1991).
32.
Marianne Bastid-Bruguière, ‘Patterns of Propaganda Organization in the National-Revolutionary Movement in China’, in Mechthild Leutner, Roland Felber, Mikhail Titarenko and Alexander Grigoriev (ed.), The Chinese Revolution in the 1920s: Between Triumph and Disaster (London, New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2002), 1–23.
33.
Elizabeth J. Perry, Shanghai on Strike: The Politics of Chinese Labor (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1993), 69–87.
34.
On the contrary, the Nationalist Party hesitated to take a strong left-wing stance on social issues, as its leaders feared losing their main and richer supporters. See: Spence, The Search for Modern China, 342.
35.
Closing words [闭会词], 30.01.1924, in SHAC, Collection of materials from the Chinese Republican archives [中华民国史档案资料汇编], Vol. 4 (Nanjing: Jiangsu Guji Chubanshe, 1986), 234–236.
36.
A thorough and updated biography of this interesting Comintern agent, who was active in the USA and Mexico, besides China, is still unavailable. See: Lydia Holubnychy, Michael Borodin and the Chinese revolution 1923–1925 (Ann Arbor: University Microfilms International, 1979).
37.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 53–54.
38.
Bergère, Sun Yat-sen, 436.
39.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 14–15.
40.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 47–49.
41.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 45–47.
42.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 46.
43.
William C. Kirby, ‘The Nationalist Regime and the Chinese Party-State’, in Historical Perspectives on Contemporary East Asia (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2000), 211–216.
44.
Hans J. Van De Ven, War and Nationalism in China 1925–1945 (London, New York: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003), 79–83.
45.
SHAC, Historical materials on the meetings…, 80–90.
46.
Audrey Walls, The Political Thought of Sun Yat-sen: Development and Impact (New York: Palgrave, 2001), 61–101. Bergère, Sun Yat-sen, 400–450.
47.
See also: G. Samarani, La Cina e il mondo e la Cina nel mondo. L’epoca repubblicana, in La Cina, Vol. 3, 226–227.
48.
[Soviet agents’ report] The National Revolutionary Army: Short History of its Origin, Development, and Organization, 1926, in C. Martin Wilbur and Julie Lien-ying How, Missionaries of Revolution: Soviet Advisers and Nationalist China, 1920–1927 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1989), 479–485.
49.
See: Leslie H. Dinyang Chen, Chen Jiongming and the Federalist Movement: Regional Leadership and Nation Building in Early Republican China (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1999).
50.
Second Congress of the Communist International, 109–114.
51.
Extracts from a Manifesto to The Peoples of The East Issued by The Fifth Comintern Congress, 07.1924, in Jane Degras (ed.), The Communist International: 1919–1943: Documents, Vol. 2 (London: Oxford University Press, 1956), 156–159.
52.
Speech at the opening ceremony of the Whampoa Academy [在陆军军官学校开学典礼的演说], 16 June 1924, in Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen, Vol. 10 (Beijing: Zhonghua Shuju Chuban, 1986), 290–300.
53.
Regulations for the farmers’ associations [农民协会章程], 24.06.1924, in SHAC, Collection of materials from the Chinese Republican archives, Vol. 4, 453–463.
54.
GMD Archives (Historical Archives of the Chinese Nationalist Party, Taipei), Hankou dang’an, 7172, Letter of the National Student Union central body to Liao Zhongkai [全国学生联合会总会致廖仲恺函], 5 April 1924.
55.
Xu Xiaoqun, Chinese Professionals and the Republican State. The Rise of Professional Associations in Shanghai, 1912–1937 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001), 1–19 and 83–106.
56.
ECCI manifesto on China, 4 September 1924, in Jane Degras (ed.), The Communist International, vol. 2, 169–170.
57.
Farewell speech at the Whampoa Academy [在黄埔军官学校的告别演说], 3 November 1924, in Complete Works of Sun Yat-sen, Vol. 11 (Beijing: Zhonghua shuju chuban, 1986), 264–273.
58.
Even during the terminal stage of Sun’s cancer, an intense debate started on the future of the Chinese revolution. See: GMD Archives, Hankou dang’an, 17849.8 [Press articles on the GMD future plans], 02.04.1925. In these articles, there were already references to the “left wing” and “right wing” of the GMD, along with positions such as “pro-communist” members and “anticommunist.”
59.
The Central Committee of the RCP(B) to the Central Executive Committee of the Kuomintang, 13 March 1925, in Joseph Stalin, Works, Vol. 7 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954), 50.
60.
Telegram from Zinoviev to the Kuomintang on the death of Sun Yat-sen, 14 March 1925, in Jane Degras (ed.), The Communist International, vol. 2, 182–183.
61.
Richard W. Rigby, The May 30 Movement: Events and Themes (Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1980). Nicholas R. Clifford, Shanghai, 1925: Urban Nationalism and The Defense of Foreign Privilege (Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1979). See also: Sofia Graziani, Il Partito e i giovani. Storia della Lega Comunista Giovanile in Cina (Venezia: Cafoscarina, 2013), 9–32.
62.
GMD Archives, Hankou dang’an, 6344, Letter from the Executive Committee to all the schools [中执会通致各学校函], 1 June 1925.
63.
CCP addresses the nation to revolt against the wild and ruthless massacre of the imperialism [中共中央为反抗帝国主义野蛮残暴的大屠杀告全国民众], 5 June 1925, in Shanghai Archives (Municipal Archives of Shanghai), The May 30th Movement [五卅运动] (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 1991), 25–36.
64.
Compare with: Bruce A. Elleman, Moscow and the Emergence of Communist Power in China, 1925–30. The Nanchang Rising and Birth of the Red Army (Abingdon: Routledge, 2009), 8–36.
65.
Declaration of Hu Hanmin to refute the slanders on communism [胡汉民辟共产谣诼宣言], 04.06.1925, in SHAC, Collection of materials from the Chinese Republican archives, Vol. 4, 256–259.
66.
Historical materials on the meetings…, 142–460. The national congresses should have been annual, but the concurrence of Sun Yat-sen’s terminal cancer and the internal disputes made convening impossible in 1925.
67.
Extracts from the resolution of the Sixth ECCI plenum on the Chinese question, 13.03.1926, in Jane Degras (ed.), The Communist International, vol. 2, 275–279.
68.
Telegram from Stalin to Molotov (letter 17), 03.06.1926, in Lars T. Lih, Oleg V. Naumov and Oleg V. Khlevniuk (ed.), Stalin’s Letters to Molotov 1925–1936 (New Haven, London: Yale University Press, 1995), 110–112.
69.
Roland Felber, ‘A “Bloc Within” or a “Bloc Without”? Controversies On The CCP’s Attitude Towards The Guomindang Before And After 20 March 1926’, in Leutner et al. (ed.), The Chinese Revolution in the 1920s, 52–65.
70.
SHAC, Chiang Kai-shek’s Chronology (1887–1926) [蒋介石年谱] (Beijing: Jiuzhou Chubanshe, 2011), 533.
71.
Michael G. Murdock, ‘Exploiting Anti-Imperialism: Popular Forces and Nation-State-Building during China’s Northern Expedition, 1926–1927’, Modern China, Vol. 35 (1), 2009: 65–95.
72.
Compare with: [Mao Zedong’s] Interview with the British journalist James Bertram, 25.10.1937, in Selected Works of Mao Zedong, Vol. 2 (Beijing, Foreign Language Press, Beijing 1965), 54.
73.
On the Northern Expedition of the National Government [论国民政府之北伐], 07.07.1926, in Ren Jianshu (ed.), Selected Writings of Chen Duxiu [陈独秀著作选], Vol. 4 (Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe, 2009), 105–106.
74.
The prospect of the revolution in China. Speech delivered in the Chinese Commission of ECCI, 30 November 1926, in Joseph Stalin, Works, Vol. 8 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954), 373–391.
75.
Alexander Pantsov, The Bolsheviks and the Chinese Revolution, 1919–1927 (London, New York: Routledge, 2000), 99–214.
76.
Order to protect the CCP members’ personal integrity, freedom, etc. [頒发保护共产党员个人身体自由等训令], 26 July 1927 in SHAC, Collection of materials from the Chinese Republican archives, vol. 4, 428–430.
77.
Notes on contemporary themes, 28 July 1927, in Joseph Stalin, Works, Vol. 9 (Moscow: Foreign Languages Publishing House, 1954), 337–369.
78.
Mao Zedong, On the new stage. Report to the Enlarged Sixth Plenum of the Central Committee of the CCP, 12–14 October 1938, in Stuart J. Schram and Nancy J. Hodes (ed.), Mao’s Road to Power. Revolutionary Writings 1912–1949, vol. 6 (Armonk, London: Sharpe, 2004), 523.

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Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Milan, Italy
Lorenzo M. Capisani

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Department of Political Science, Law and International Studies, University of Padua, Padua, Italy
Valentine Lomellini

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Capisani, L.M. (2020). “A Successful Method”: The Chinese Reception of the Russian Revolutionary Model in the 1920s. In: Lomellini, V. (eds) The Rise of Bolshevism and its Impact on the Interwar International Order. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35529-6_9

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35529-6_9
Published: 08 February 2020
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