Works that have influenced modern Chinese history—Populism

Author: Li Dazhao
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2002-10-01
Features: The People's Democracy is an important work written by Li Dazhao, an early leader of the Communist Party of China, and is imbued with anti-imperialist and anti-feudal ideas. Guided by Marxist-Leninist thought and employing the theory of class struggle, the book provides preliminary explorations into a series of issues faced by the Chinese revolution in the early stages of the New Democratic Revolution. The author refers to the struggles of peasants against landlords, workers against capitalists, and people in colonies and semi-colonies against imperialist colonial plunder as the movement of the people's democracy. At the same time, he clearly distinguishes between the bourgeoisie's "people's democracy" and the proletariat's "people's democracy," arguing that the foundation of the proletariat's "people's democracy" lies in worker politics, its nature is the dictatorship of the proletariat, and its goal is to achieve socialism. The ideas elaborated in this book are fundamentally different from those of the old democratic revolution and laid the groundwork for the further exploration of New Democratic Revolution theory by the Communist Party of China, represented by Mao Zedong in later years.