Chinese Marxism 9781474212960, 9780826450333

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Introduction This book is an investigation of the development of the idea of Marxism in China, not a study of either the politics of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) or the People's Republic of China (PRC). While there are many works on the latter topics, there has as yet been no systematic analysis of the development and nature of the idea of Marxism in China. I hope that this book will stimulate further investigations. When the Marxian message first arrived in China, the country's economy was predominantly agrarian, so the first concern of this study is to examine the writings of Marx to see whether his message is relevant to societies that have not yet industrialized. This has been a contentious issue among scholars and it is dealt with in Chapter 1. The other issues to be examined are corollaries of this one. First, how were the Marxian message and the socioeconomic conditions in China at the time of the arrival of Marxism perceived by those who eventually embraced that message, that is, the founders of the CCP? This is discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. I then examine how the founding and later leaders of the CCP adapted and developed that Marxian message into a guide for revolutionary action in order to solve China's perceived economic, political and social problems and to achieve the goal of bringing about a Marxian socialist society. This examination follows a chronological order in its analysis of the development of Marxism in China up to the leadership of Jiang Zemin. However, more attention is given to the development of the theories and practice of Marxism as a revolutionary praxis during the leadership of Mao Zedong. Hitherto, scholars of Chinese communism, Marxism and the Chinese communist movement have generally agreed that the Marxian message is inappropriate to societies that are basically agrarian and pre-industrialized, as China was when Marxism arrived there. It seems necessary, therefore, to commence a study of Chinese Marxism with a brief study of Marx. An examination of the writings of Marx and Engels will help us understand their views on the role of the peasantry in the socialist revolution they hoped to bring about, and the prospects for revolution in pre-industrialized societies. Contrary to accepted scholarly ideas, this book aims to show that Marx was always concerned with the liberation of societies in the preindustrialized stages. Furthermore, it seeks to establish that Marx had always insisted that a society may commence its socialist liberation no matter what its degree of development at the time, provided that it adopts the