It’s a Communist Party!

�Russia and China�

Global Communism

Russian Context

• Autocratic government
• Industrialization increases inequality and working-class difficulties
• Russo-Japanese War
• Humiliates Russian government and turns the citizens against the government.
• Revolution of 1905
• Bloody Sunday – 200,000 workers march in St. Petersburg. Soldiers open fire killing hundreds.
• Tsar loses public support, agrees to Duma (Congress).
• World War I
• Supply shortages hurt military efforts and cause domestic riots
• Military defeats and heavy losses cause the military to turn on the Tsar

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Russian “Transitions”

• Provisional Government (Liberal)
• Failure to end WW1
• Seen as ineffective
• Russian Civil War (1917-1921)
• Bolsheviks (Communists) vs. White Russians (Tsarists) vs. foreign troops.
• Lenin ends Russian involvement in WW1 – Treaty of Brest Litovsk.
• Lenin’s (Communist) “New Economic Policy”
• Limited capitalism in Agriculture and business (Kulaks)
• Farmland distributed to peasants
• “Soviets” – groups of workers in control of factories
• Emphasis on education and propaganda
• Stalin – “Stalinism”

Stalinism

• Brutal Authoritarianism
• Collective Agriculture – serfdom by another name
• State terror to purge society of bourgeoisie
• Emphasis on rapid industrialization
• Strong state to handle counter-revolutionary elements
• Cult of Personality

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Building Complexity

1. Do the ends of a revolution justify the means?

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• How does Point-of-View complicate morality and ethics in defining what is the right action?

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• Does the use of violence undermine peaceful goals?

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• Is the individual or the collective more important?

Chinese Transitions

• 1911 Revolution under Sun Yatsen
• Warlords had more power than Revolutionary Alliance (Yuan Shikai)
• May 4^th Movement (1919) in support of western liberalism
• Growing differences between urban and rural during 1920s
• Guomindang (Nationalists) in power from 1928 - WWII
• Rise of Mao and the rural peasants in late 20s and 30s.
• Japanese invasion 1931
• Chinese Civil War – 1927 - 1949

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Why didn’t Republicanism take hold in China?

• Lack of historical traditions for democratic institutions and culture posed a problem. (Cultural Challenge)
• The Republic became associated with the rule of warlords because of the weakness of the central government. (Challenge of Legitimacy)
• Urban / Rural divide – Democratic movements were more popular in the cities with youth and educated middle classes than in the countryside. (Social Challenge)
• After Japanese invasion Nationalists were seen as too focused on internal struggles rather than repelling the invaders. (Poor Leadership)
• Rural peasant received more tangible support from the communists such as literacy programs, support for women's rights, reduced rents and taxes. (Wise Leadership – “Ground Game”)
• Corruption among Nationalist officials undermined any moral high ground. (Poor Leadership)

Socialism with Chinese Characteristics

中国特色社会主义

Maoism

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• Designed to achieve communism in an agricultural economy/society
• Peasantry are the “revolutionary vanguard” or “proletariat”
• Over time, more emphasis on action and revolution, less on theory.
• Disagreed with Marx’s view of economic cyclicity – Needed revolution NOW to unite China and defend it.
• Mass Line Theory – the party must not separate from the popular masses/people in policy or revolutionary struggle.

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• Followed with Industrialization and Cultural Revolution
• Simplified Characters
• Great Leap Forward
• Hundred Flowers Campaign
• Cultural Revolution

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CONTINUITY AND CHANGE IN RUSSIAN AND CHINESE HISTORY

Building Complexity – The Chinese Example

• What insight does this give us about how and why revolution / ideologies succeed or fail?

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• How does this connect to other revolutions and movements in history?
• Russian Revolutions
• Atlantic Revolutions
• Decolonization Struggles
• Revolutions of 1848
• German and Italian Unification
• Meiji Revolution / Restoration
• US Civil War
• Enlightenment
• British political development
• Tanizmat reforms and self-strengthening movement

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