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Author: Liang Zhu
Editor-in-Chief: Su Zhizhong et al.
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2000-02-01
Features:
Fragment: Maintaining close contact. For example, regarding the name of the party, whether to call it the Socialist Party or the Communist Party, Chen Duxiu was undecided and wrote a letter seeking Li Dazhao's opinion. Li Dazhao immediately replied, clearly stating: "Call it the Communist Party, as only this name is consistent with the views of the Communist International." Therefore, the organization established in Shanghai was initially called the Communist Party, and the party journal it published was named The Communist. During this period, Li Dazhao also successively entrusted Zhang Guotao and Zhang Shenfu, who came to Shanghai for business, to "discuss directly" with Chen Duxiu, unifying opinions and steps. Through the efforts of Li Dazhao and others, the Beijing Communist Group was established in October 1920, with members including Li Dazhao, Zhang Guotao, Zhang Shenfu, Deng Zhongxia, Luo Zhanglong, Liu Renjing, Gao Junyu, He Mengxiong, Zhang Tailai, Fan Hongjie, Miao Boying (female), and Zhu Wushan, among others. At the beginning, some anarcho-socialists like Huang Lingshuang and Qu Shengbai also joined the group, but they quickly left due to differing views. Li Dazhao served as the leader of the group and, soon after, the group was renamed the Beijing Communist Branch, with Li Dazhao appointed as its secretary. As soon as the group was established, Li Dazhao announced that he would allocate 80 yuan from his monthly salary of 120 yuan as the group's activity funds. During the process of founding the party, Li Dazhao placed great importance on developing workers' movements. As early as May 1, 1919, he wrote an article introducing the origin of International Labor Day, advocating for the "direct action" of the working class. By May 1, 1920, under Li Dazhao's influence and leadership, over 500 workers and students from Peking University held a commemorative meeting. On this day, advanced members of Peking University and members of the Labor Study Mutual Aid Group launched a demonstration in Beijing, distributing tens of thousands of copies of The Beijing Labor Manifesto along the way, calling for the expulsion of all officials, politicians, and capitalists who did not work, and the recovery of farmlands, factories, and all production facilities for self-management. After the establishment of the Beijing Communist Group, it published a popular newspaper, The Voice of Labor, to promote socialist ideas among workers. At the same time, the group decided to establish a labor supplementary school in Changxindian as a base for activities. The supplementary school officially opened on New Year's Day, 1921. Li Dazhao placed great importance on the work of the labor supplementary school and often provided specific guidance. On May 1, 1921, under Li Dazhao's guidance, the Changxindian Workers' Club was established, becoming one of the earliest modern trade unions in China. In March 1921, Li Dazhao published the article The Training and Renewal of Organizations, the first to openly propose the establishment of a communist party in China. He stated: "We must urgently organize a group now. This group is not a political party organized by politicians, nor a democratic party of the middle class, but a party of the common people and laborers, i.e., a socialist organization." He emphasized learning from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and "taking the Third International as its core" to ensure that the newly established group would be "strong and precise." He firmly believed that if the friends of the "C Faction" in China could establish a strong and precise organization and focus on promoting the group training of its members, then China's thorough reform might have a solid foundation.① As an article published publicly, it basically articulated the correct views of Chinese Marxists on the founding of the party. In early 1921, Vygodskii returned from the south to Beijing. Li Dazhao engaged in multiple discussions with him at the library of Peking University, and both agreed that the time was ripe for the communist organizations in various regions to hold a national conference and formally establish the Communist Party of China. Li Dazhao also expressed his commitment to working to establish a national-level organization as soon as possible. Before the "First Congress," the Comintern representative, Marin, arrived in Beijing. Li Dazhao met with Marin warmly and together they studied the matter of holding the party's national conference. Later, he sent Deng Zhongxia to accompany Marin to Shanghai to discuss the details of holding the national party conference. On July 23, 1921, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China was held in Shanghai, officially proclaiming the founding of the Communist Party of China. At that time, the teachers and staff of the eight national specialized and above institutions in Beijing were conducting a salary struggle against the warlord government, and Li Dazhao served as the acting chairman of the joint conference of the eight institutions, directly participating in the leadership and thus unable to attend the conference. After the "First Congress" of the CCP, a Beijing District Executive Committee was established in the north, with Li Dazhao responsible for leading the district's work and guiding the party's work and revolutionary movements in the vast northern regions, including Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi, Chahar, Jehol, Inner Mongolia, and Northeast China. Li Dazhao successively sent party members to various regions to gradually establish party organizations.