CCP Flashcards
CCP Origins - study marxism
1918 – Li Dazhao and Mao Zedong set up ‘Society for the Study of Marxism’:
“Disillusioned with the liberal politics of the West, many young intellectuals turned to the East for inspiration.” Ryan
CCP - Moscow involvement in early days
- 1919 – Soviet government declared in its Karakhan Manifesto of July 25 that it would renounce all imperialist claims in China
- March 1919 – Russian Communists founded the Communist Internationale (‘Comintern’) – theory & support for the formation of revolutionary groups worldwide
- April 1920 – Grigory Voitinsky met with Li Dazhao & Chen Duxiu – hoping to organise a Chinese Communist Party
- 3 June 1921 – Overbearing Communist Maring sent to create a Chinese Communist Party: “[He was] aggressive and hard to deal with…saw himself as the angel of liberation [but to us] he seemed endowed with the social superiority complex of the white man.” Li Dazhao
CCP founding
- Party founded in August 1920 after Mao has left Shanghai - official history = founding in 1921
- 23 July 1921 – First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party
- 12 delegates representing 57 members across China
- Mao representing Hunan and served as note-taker.
- “The idea of forming the CCP did not stem from Chen or from any Chinese. It originated in Moscow” Chang and Halliday
CCP ideology
- China had 3 million proletariat, had not undergone bourgeois stage of development - 0.5% of population
CCP independence
It spoke of uniting with the Comintern in Moscow, rather than following its orders, and decided to cut links with other Chinese parties, going against Lenin’s instructions for Communists in countries like China to co-operate with the ‘revolutionary bourgeoisie’.
CCP ideological splt
- Chen Duxiu believed in orthodox proletarian-centred Marxism
- Li Dazhao thought the peasants were much more important in China.
- “Chen supported radical peasant and labour movements” Hans Van de Ven
