Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao

Chinese Communism and the Rise of Mao by Benjamin Schwartz The Author says that before the Russian revolution, the Chinese were not at all interested in Marxism. Even though China sent scholars out to other countries to study the philosophies of Tolstoy, John Stuart Mill, and Adam Smith at great length, Marxism failed to enter the discussion. The author argues that this omission wasn’t because of the extremism of the Marxist ideal, but because Marx himself argued that a Marxist revolution should only take place in a highly developed country with a strong proletariat class already in place, and so a backwards country like China had no place in the Marxist conversation. The Chinese origins of Marxism can be traced to the founders of the communist party, Ch’en Tu-hsiu and Li Ta-chao. Ch’en Tu-hsiu rejected everything to do with China’s traditional culture such as Buddhism and Taoism which he saw as paralyzing because of their rejection of worldly things, and Confucianism because it suppressed the individual. He held to a philosophy of democracy and science which he believed were the two things that made the West had which China lacked. Ch’en’s version of democracy was simply allowing the individual complete freedom from tradition so he can pursue his own interests, with the idea that he would use his energies to better society. He saw science as a way to annihilate the follies of superstition and religion through the use of reason and concrete evidence. Li Ta-chao took more of a philosophical view. He believed that reality is one, and humans are just a transient part of that reality, although their ego, as part of the reality, is eternal. He though that “the ego is the universe and the universe is the ego (qtd. in 10).” Li’s theory at first seems very traditional, but instead of deciding that life is futile like traditional theorists, he made the optimistic argument that "The universe is eternal, hence youth is eternal, hence I am eternal (qtd. in 11)." Further, Li didn’t focus on the past or future, but on the present as the most important because “the past finds its final resting place in the present while the present is the origin of the future (qtd. in 11)." After the fall of the Kuomintang, Lenin rose to power in Russia. Li Ta-chao applauded the Russian revolution, although didn’t consider the doctrine behind it as important. Ch’en Tu-hsiu wasn’t quite as inspired and simply called for China to adhere to republicanism, atheism, and science. The Chinese became interested in Marxism as a Western attack on its own capitalist system, and Marxism began to be studied at Pecking University with Ch’en’s support but without his active participation. Li began to study about Marxism, but renounced it because he thought that change in economic structure wasn’t enough to force a change in human spirit which would be needed for a successful transformation. The other scholars studying Marxism also wrote about it in a fairly dispassionate and scientific manner in a way that wasn’t indicative of revolutionary vigor. Thus it can be seen at in 1919-1920, neither Ch’en Tu-hsiu nor Li Ta-chao were creators of the May Fourth Movement because they didn’t think that imperialism was China’s main problem. The students of 1919 were completely different from Ch’en and Li generation because the students did not have a traditional education to conflict with their Western learning, and so were more eager to join the nationalistic movement. Although Ch’en became a leader for the May Fourth Movement, it was more because he wished to support his students than because he wished to promote Marxism himself. In fact, when John Dewey presented his views on democracy in China, Ch’en became converted. Dewey argued that in order for democracy to survive, it must come from the minds and attitudes of the people, not from laws forced on the people from above. Despite the pull of Dewey’s theory, Ch’en and his students didn’t want to take the slow pace and modest role that it would give them; rather, they preferred the Leninist idea of dramatic revolution which the educated would lead. By 1920 Ch’en chose Lenin’s worldview over Dewey’s. At this time, Li Ta-chao was trying to reconcile his beliefs in human consciousness and his new belief in Marxism which argues that ideology is only a mask which hides a country’s true nature. Li finally solved his inner dispute by arguing that everyone has a sense of morality but that this sense evolved from human instinct, and that everyone felt a sense of duty but that this sense is different depending on the economic system in which the individual lives. Despite the fact that true Marxists believed social phenomena could only be explained in social and not biological terms, Li was satisfied and proclaiming himself a Marxist, he began publishing passionate articles on Marxism. He accepted all of the Marxist doctrines and made no further mention of his old beliefs on the subject. The author says that despite what many would argue, the rise of the proletariat did not play a significant role in converting Ch’en and Li to Marxism-Leninism but that “it would be more correct to say that Leninism turned their attention to the proletariat rather than that the proletariat turned their attention to Leninism (25).” Finally, despite Ch’en Tu-hsiu’s and Li Ta-chao’s initial doubts about Marxism, and the various directions that their students such as Mao Tse-tung took it, "There can be no doubt… that these two were indeed the spiritual fathers of Marxism-Leninism in China, and the first founders of the Chinese Communist Party (26)”.