1921-1933-CCP in Shanghai

Author: None
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-07-01
Features: On July 1921, the Communist Party of China was born in Shanghai. She was a product of the combination of Marxism and the Chinese workers' movement. Marxism is the guiding ideology of the Party, and the working class is its class base. The combination of Marxism and the workers' movement gave rise to the Communist Party, which is the general pattern for the birth of the vanguard of the proletariat in various countries, and the birth of the Communist Party of China is no exception. Shanghai was not only an important window for the spread of Marxism to China but also a region where the Chinese working class was most concentrated and where the workers' movement had developed relatively maturely. This provided the basic conditions for the early organizations of the Communist Party of China to be established first in Shanghai.
(I) The process of, preparation, and establishment of the Communist Party of China was also a process of the widespread dissemination of Marxism in China and its increasing integration with the Chinese workers' movement. Marxism had been introduced to China since the late 19th century. In 1898, the Shanghai General Mission published the Chinese translation of the British writer Kekar's History of Socialism, titled The Laws of Universal Civilization, which systematically introduced various socialist doctrines. Chapter 7 of the book stated: "Marx is the most famous and influential figure in the history of socialism, and he and his close friend Engels (Marx) were regarded as the leaders of the 'scientific and revolutionary' socialist school. This school had representatives in civilized countries, and everyone considered it the 'most terrible new school of socialism.'" The book also introduced Marx's life and theories, commenting on dialectical materialism, historical materialism, scientific socialism, and political economy.
From February to April 1899, the Global Journal, sponsored by the Shanghai General Mission, published a series of articles titled The Great Learning. These were the first three chapters of the British philosopher Kidd's book Social Evolution (a total of ten chapters, which were fully translated and published by the Shanghai General Mission in May of the same year under the same title, The Great Learning). The book referred to Marx as "the leader of the working class."
Starting in 1903, many patriotic newspapers in Shanghai published articles introducing socialism. Some articles praised socialism as a "bright and magnificent ideology," "like spring flowers in bud, ready to bloom," which would inevitably "bloom into a thousand red and purple clusters across the world." Newspapers such as the Shanghai Daily, Russian Affairs Alert, and Translation World, founded by Americans in Shanghai, also introduced socialism. Although the introductions at the time were scattered, fragmented, and quite; those involved in the introductions included both bourgeois reformists and bourgeois revolutionaries, as well as anarchists; and the understanding and interpretation were often one-sided, even including distortion and attack. Nevertheless, these introductions did open a new window for China's intellectual and theoretical circles.
The October Revolution of 1917 in Russia transformed socialism from a theory in books into a living reality. Due to the similarities between Russia and China (severe feudal oppression) or similarities (economic and cultural backwardness), the October Revolution had a special appeal to the Chinese people. It pointed a new path for the Chinese people who were struggling in misery and darkness, giving China a new hope for national liberation. The October Revolution not only provided reasonable answers to the various questions that the advanced Chinese were deeply pondering but also gave revolutionary inspiration to the scholars who were struggling for national independence and people's liberation. At the same time, it also prompted the advanced Chinese intellectuals to further study and research the Marxist theory that guided the October Revolution to victory. Before the October Revolution, Marxism was introduced to China as a new social trend. Afterward, it was introduced as the theoretical weapon of the proletariat's liberation—scientific socialism. This is what Mao Zedong referred to as "The October Revolution's thunderous cannon brought Marxism to us."
Under the influence of the October Revolution, a group of intellectuals with preliminary communist ideas, represented by Li Dazhao and Chen Duxiu, after repeatedly comparing and carefully considering various doctrines and plans for saving the country, finally chose scientific socialism and established their belief in Marxism. Li Dazhao was the first Chinese to spread Marxism and advocate learning from the Russian October Revolution. In 1918, he published articles such as A Comparison of the French and Russian Revolutions, The Victory of the Proletariat, and The Victory of Bolshevism, enthusiastically praising the October Revolution as "the dawn of a new civilization in the world," pointing out that the socialist revolution of the proletariat was the trend of world history, and that emperors, nobles, warlords, officials, militarism, and capitalism, when faced with this irresistible trend, were like withered leaves meeting a freezing autumn wind, one by one falling to the ground. He confidently predicted: "Look at the future of the world—there will be a world of red flags!" He also called on the Chinese people to "adapt to this new trend of the world" and create a new world where "everyone works together and everyone shares the food."
The May Fourth Movement strongly promoted the widespread dissemination of Marxism in China. If before May Fourth, there were only a few Marxists in China, and the number of intellectuals with preliminary communist ideas was also limited; then after May Fourth, the study and promotion of socialism gradually became an irresistible trend of the times. After the May Fourth Movement, more intellectuals abandoned their illusions about imperialism and discarded the blueprint for building a capitalist state, beginning to follow the path of scientific socialism guided by Marxism, which became a historical choice made by the advanced Chinese.