Ever since the Opium War in 1840, China had been forced into the status of a semi-colony, constantly bullied and oppressed by the foreign powers. To change this situation, many determined and capable Chinese worked to learn from the West. However, prior to the Russian October Revolution in 1917, China became even more vulnerable because of the ongoing contentious wars among the warlords. When the Chinese again pinned their hopes on the United States and other countries for just treatment after the victorious ending of World War I, the unjust decisions made at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919 forced many radical intellectuals and young students to look to revolutionary Russia, which was moving toward socialism. As Soviet rule expanded from Europe to the Far East, the Russian Bolsheviks, led by V. I. Lenin, based on their belief in world revolution, began to export the Russian revolutionary experience to the Far East. On the one hand, the Soviets had to follow the tradition of the capitalist world when dealing with the Chinese government at diplomatic venues. On the other hand, they firmly held on to their anti-capitalist ideology and worked hard to find allies among the various radical forces in China. Thus, Soviet Russia not only helped organize the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) but it also chose the Nationalist Party, led by Sun Yatsen, to guide China on the track of the world revolution.
Chinese Society Shocked by the October Revolution
On 7 November 1917, shelling from the Russian cruiser Aurora woke up the sleeping world. The red flags fluttering in Saint Petersburg startled all bourgeois governments. Fear instantly permeated worldwide media and affected the elite intellectuals in China who had been deeply concerned about the future of Russia since its February Revolution in 1917.
During the first several months of 1917, Chinese newspapers were filled with praise for the overthrow of the Tsar by the February Revolution and the preparations for a constitutional republic. However, beginning in April, newspapers began to pay attention to reports carried by European, American, and Japanese media on the so-called conflict among the “Russian socialist thugs,” the “extremists,” the “radical leftist party,” and the provisional Russian government established after the February Revolution that resulted in “partisan divisions, incoherent government orders, rebellious workers and soldiers,” Bolshevik strikes, and major rebellions. Many Chinese intellectuals began to have different attitudes toward the February and October Revolutions, mainly for two reasons. One was that they did not want to see one of the entente powers defeated as China had entered World War I on their side. The other was that they saw the overthrow of the imperial system during the February Revolution as a copy of the Chinese Revolution of 1911 and as a part of a worldwide trend toward democratic republics. They did not want to let this historical process follow the disastrous footsteps of the French Revolution or evolve into a “bloody massacre” simply because the radicals “wanted a foot after getting an inch and wanted a yard after getting a foot.”
However, only six months later, the attitude of the Chinese media toward the Russian Revolution gradually began to change again. The anarchists were the first to welcome the victory of the people’s revolution in Russia. Because of the collaboration between Peter Kropotkin, a leading figure among the Russian anarchists, and the Bolsheviks , as well as the close attention the new government paid to the interests of workers and peasants, the anarchists were the first to make sympathetic remarks about the October Revolution. By the end of May 1918, the National Daily , a newspaper run by the Chinese Revolutionary Party led by Sun Yatsen, also began to change its attitude toward Soviet Russia. Sun even sent a telegram to Lenin , expressing his tremendous admiration for the victory of the socialist revolution in Russia. Thereafter, newspapers and magazines run by Chinese reformers ended their loathing of the “extremist socialists.” They predicted that because of the victory of the Russian Revolution, socialism had gained such tremendous momentum that even a falling sky would not be able to stop it.
By the end of 1918, World War I came to an end and democracy overwhelmed authoritarianism as the Austrian-Hungarian empire, the German empire, and the Tsarist government collapsed in succession. At the same time, with the rise of the Russian socialist government, socialist revolutions began to erupt throughout Europe, shocking the capitalist world. All this inevitably made many young Chinese intellectuals aware that “a massive new world trend is now beginning to rise in Eastern Europe” and that “a Russian-style revolution, a socialist revolution, will spread.” Li Dazhao, a professor at Peking University who had carefully studied the socialist revolutions in Russia and Europe via Japanese newspapers and magazines, publicly stated that “regarding the current changes in Russia, we should heartily welcome them as the dawn of a new civilization … and [we] should not be pessimistic simply because of the temporary disorder that is now being observed.”
Entering 1919, even the Northern Sea warlords and the Anhui politicians began to organize research associations on socialism. However, the Chinese understanding of a socialist revolution, as Qu Qiubai, a prominent leftist writer said, was not quite clear, just like “observing the morning fog through a screen window. … The factions and the meaning of socialism are a mess, not quite clear to the Chinese; just like a dam gate closed for a long time, once it opens numerous currents rush out, foaming and thundering, yet without any predetermined direction.” However, one thing was clear. Regardless of whether Chinese national feelings would be hurt by the results of the Paris Peace Conference , the rapid rise of a socialist ideology in China and the impact of ideas from the Soviet Russian Revolution on Chinese society had become obvious.
The Origins of the Chinese Communist Party
The influence of the Russian Revolution and Russian-style socialism on China was a gradual process. Ever since the Opium War, the Chinese had tried various methods, including the overthrow of the Manchu Qing dynasty and the abolition of the imperial system, to introduce advanced Western learning, encompassing the political system to include law and education as well as the military and technology. However, the nation did not become truly independent. Instead, it was further divided because of its separation by the warlords, which greatly aided Japan, a new imperialist country, to implement its aggressive plan aimed at colonizing China. During the 1894 Sino-Japanese War, Japan not only occupied Korea but also took over Taiwan and the Penghu Islands. During the 1904 Russo-Japanese War, Japan seized Lüshun, Dalian, and the South Manchuria Railroad. It forcibly occupied China’s Jiaodong Peninsula as it declared war on Germany. Then, in 1915, Japan forced Yuan Shikai’s government to sign the “Twenty-One Articles.” By signing a secret military treaty with the Duan Qirui government in 1918, Japan obtained the right to engage in military operations in China on the pretext of “mutual defense.” Although deeply offended by Japanese behavior, the Chinese could do nothing but pin their hopes on receiving justice from the European and American powers.
During World War I, the Chinese government decided to join the side of the entente. Since most of the entente nations were democratic republics and US President Woodrow Wilson strongly supported “self-determination,” intellectual and media circles in China had great expectations for the postwar world order. Thus, when the war ended and the leaders of the entente nations gathered in Paris for the Peace Conference, many elites and reporters, with great hopes for “justice over power,” flocked to the city, waiting for the good news that China would be granted justice by the Paris Peace Conference. Therefore, the Chinese were greatly shocked when the Paris Peace Conference ignored the pleas from the Chinese government as well as international law and allowed Japan to continue its occupation of the Jiaodong Peninsula. Once this news spread to China...