From Xinhai to the May 4th Movement: the Early Spread of Socialist Thought in China

In the 10 years before the Revolution of 1911, the spread of the new trend of thought with students studying in Japan as the main body of translation and introduction formed the first wave of the early spread of socialist thought in China. After the Revolution of 1911, when the political turmoil in the early days of the Republic of China came to an end, the voices of Chinese ideological circles talking about socialism began to become lively again.
(I)
From October 14th to 16th, 1912, Sun Yat-sen delivered a speech entitled "The Occurrence and Factions of Socialism" at the headquarters of the Chinese Socialist Party in Shanghai, and spoke highly of Marx's contribution to writing "Das Kapital. In his speech, he pointed out that Marx "painstakingly studied the issue of capital for 30 years, wrote the book" Das Kapital ", expounded the truth, spared no effort, and the unorganized theory became a systematic theory". Sun Yat-sen optimistically predicted, "On the day when socialism is implemented, our people will have education for the young, a sense of security for the old, and separate businesses to operate. We, the country of the Republic of China, will be transformed into a socialist country."
Under the active advocacy and influence of Sun Yat-sen, talking about and studying socialism was once all the rage. The Chinese Socialist Party led by Jiang Kanghu has published "Social Star", "Socialist Party Monthly", "New World" and other publications. Most of the articles published have introduced Marx and his theories. The semi-monthly "New World" published by the Shaoxing Branch of the Chinese Socialist Party, from May to July 1912, it even carried Shi Renrong's translation of "Ideal Socialism and the Implementation of Socialism" (I. e. "Socialism from Uthfulness to Scientific Development") Part of the first, second and third sections, this is the earliest Chinese translation of the book we have seen. In 1945, Mao Zedong mentioned this at the preparatory meeting of the Seventh National Congress of the Party. He said: "It is said that there is another person who has translated Engels'" The Development of Socialism from Uthfulness to Science "in a magazine." In June 1912, the second issue of "New World" published Zhu Zhixin's translation and dusty compilation of "The Theory of the Socialist Master Marc", introducing Marx's life and theory, and praising the "Communist Manifesto" as the 20th century The guiding line of social revolution, the driving force of Datong Taiping New World ".
In addition to Sun Yat-sen and Jiang Kanghu, there were not a few people and publications who talked about socialism in the early years of the Republic of China.
(II)
In 1915, marked by the establishment of "Youth Magazine" (the second volume was renamed "New Youth"), the Chinese ideological circle began an ideological enlightenment movement-the New Culture Movement. The New Culture Movement is an unprecedented ideological liberation movement in Chinese history. It shook the dominant position of feudal thought and created conditions for the spread of various new thoughts.
In November 1917, the October Revolution led by Lenin broke out. Many newspapers in China reported and commented on the news of the Russian October Revolution. In October 1918, Li Dazhao published a speech on the European war, "Victory of the Common People" and a special article, "Victory of the Bolshevism" in Volume 5, No. 5 of "New Youth". In The Victory of the Common People, Li Dazhao argued that World War I was the defeat of capitalism and the victory of labourism. He predicted: "The Russian Revolution of 1917 was the forerunner of the world revolution in the twentieth century." The victory of the October Revolution turned socialism from theory into reality, which gave Chinese advanced intellectuals who were groping forward in the dark to see new hope and new strength to rely on.
On the eve of the May Fourth Movement, articles devoted to Marx's life and doctrine began to appear in domestic newspapers and periodicals. Before that, Marx's life and doctrine were mostly mentioned in the works and articles translating and introducing the theory of socialism, and there were few special articles. From April 1 to 4, 1919, the supplement of Beijing's Morning Post published the article "the struggle career of Marx, the originator of modern socialism" (reprinted in Volume 6, No. 5 of New Youth). The author Yuan Quan (that is, Chen Puxian) stated at the beginning that he introduced to readers the struggle career of Marx, the "originator of modern socialism", with two major purposes. One is to arouse people's interest in studying socialism, and the other is to let people understand "Sages in ancient times" dedicated to the struggle career of studying. The article introduced: "Marx, a German, took the transformation of social organizations as his lifelong career in his youth. All his writings were written with a sigh that the goal was to solve the problem." And "Ma's struggle career is a career dedicated to writing, and" Das Kapital "is an immortal masterpiece in his writings" depicts the image of Marx as a scholarly social revolutionist. The article introduces in detail the painstaking efforts and costs paid by Marx for writing Das Kapital, and "supplementary narrates" the struggle course of Marx's founding the New Rhine newspaper, the German-French Yearbook and the drafting and publication of the Communist Manifesto in his youth.
On April 6, 1919, "Weekly Review" No. 16 published the "Communist Manifesto" translated by Shei in the "Masterpieces" column. The translation excerpts the ten major programs in Chapter 2. The translator pointed out: "This manifesto is the first and most important opinion of Marx and Engels... It is intended to advocate class war and demand the union of laborers everywhere. It is an instrument representing the new era."
(III)
The May 4th Movement, which broke out in 1919, opened the floodgates for the spread of all kinds of new thoughts, and all kinds of newly founded publications sprang up like bamboo shoots after a spring rain. The number of articles about Marxism in the press began to increase. From May 5th to 8th, 1919, Yuan Quan's translation of "Marx's Historical Materialism" was serialized in the "Morning News" supplement "Consciousness", and "New Youth" Volume 6 No. 5 was reprinted. This is an article translated from the famous Japanese Marxist economist Kawakami. The article argues that "Marx's socialism, in terms of knowledge, has two major roots. One is the concept of history, the other is economic theory". Based on the Manifesto of the Communist Party and the Preface to the Critique of Political Economy, this paper systematically expounds Marx's historical materialism. In May 1919 (the actual publication was September), the "New Youth" Volume 6, No. 5 "Marxism Special Issue", published Li Dazhao's famous "My View on Marxism" (Part 1) and Liu Binglin's "Biography of Marx" and other articles to promote Marxism. The column of "Marx Studies" in the same period also published articles such as Chen Qishiu's "Marx's Historical Materialism and Chastity" (recorded from "New China") and Yuan Quan's "Marx's Struggle Career" (recorded from "Morning News").
In addition to the supplements of "New Youth" and "Morning News", other famous publications during the May Fourth Movement, such as "National" magazine, "Consciousness" ("Republic of China Daily" supplement), "Construction" magazine, "Communist Party" monthly, etc., also published Many articles introducing Marxism. A prominent feature of the spread of Marxism during this period was the publication of many articles translating Marx's historical materialism. The "Guangdong Zhonghua New News" published from November to December 1919 published Yang An's "Marxism (a called scientific socialism)". The article said: "Ma's historical materialism is the subject and the revolution. Thought is the dimension, coupled with the income from observing the economic state in Britain and France, constitutes a world outlook based on economic content, which is why it is called scientific socialism." This is the first time that a domestic newspaper published an article calling Marxism "scientific socialism" during the May Fourth Movement. In addition, the "Communist Party" monthly magazine No. 1, which was launched on November 7, 1920, published for the first time two articles introducing Leninism, "List of Lenin's Works" and "Lenin's History.
During the May Fourth Movement, there were more publications spreading Marxism, but at that time, there were not many Marxist books that people could see. Li Da recalled, "At that time, the works of Marx and Engels were rarely turned over, and we only saw some in Japanese. China's acceptance of Marxism was greatly helped by Japan, because no one in China translated it, no bourgeois scholars translated it at all, and none of our people could translate it." Only around 1921, when the Chinese Communists wrote Marxism as their guiding ideology on their banner, did the tide of the widespread spread of Marxism on the land of China really begin to surge.
 

Source: Learning Times