Engaging with Socialism in China: the Political Thought and Activities of Chen Gongbo and Tan Pingshan, 1917-1928
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Engaging with Socialism in China: The Political Thought and Activities of Chen Gongbo and Tan Pingshan, 1917-1928 Xuduo Zhao PhD University of York History May 2019 1 Abstract This thesis investigates Chen Gongbo (1892-1946) and Tan Pingshan (1886-1956), two significant Cantonese Marxists who helped found the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 1921. I use Chen and Tan as a lens to re-examine the dissemination of Marxism in May Fourth China and the underlying tensions in 1920s Chinese revolution. My study demonstrates that it was in the changing educational system in the early 20th century that Chen and Tan gradually improved their positions in the cultural field and participated in the intellectual ferment during the May Fourth period. At Peking University they became familiarised with Marxism. Their understanding of Marxism, however, was deeply influenced by European social democracy, as opposed to many other early communist leaders who believed in Bolshevism. This divergence finally led to the open conflict within the CCP between Guangzhou and Shanghai in the summer of 1922, which also embodied the different social identities among early Chinese Marxists. After the quarrel, Chen quit while Tan remained within the party. During the Nationalist Revolution, both Tan and Chen became senior leaders in the Kuomintang, but they had to face yet another identity crisis of whether to be a revolutionary or a politician. Meanwhile, they had to rethink the relationship between socialism and nationalism in their political propositions. This study of Chen and Tan’s political thought and activities in the late 1910s and 1920s offers a different picture of Chinese radicalism and revolution in the early Republican period. 2 List of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................................... 2 List of Contents .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Acknowledgement...................................................................................................................................... 4 Declaration ................................................................................................................................................. 6 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 7 Literature review .............................................................................................................................. 10 Structure of the thesis ....................................................................................................................... 14 Historical materials .......................................................................................................................... 17 Chapter One Peking University (1917-1920) ........................................................................................... 20 Tan Pingshan: climbing up the ladder .............................................................................................. 24 Making sense of the educational reforms ......................................................................................... 29 Chen Gongbo: off the track .............................................................................................................. 34 Peking University as a “cultural field” ............................................................................................. 37 Tan and Chen at Peking University .................................................................................................. 42 Chapter Two Back to Guangzhou (1920-1922) ........................................................................................ 57 Juxtaposition of the two governments .............................................................................................. 58 The birth of Zhengheng .................................................................................................................... 65 Mapping the world: Guangdong Qunbao and the advent of a revolutionary era ............................. 72 Making sense of Marxism: dictatorship or democracy? ................................................................... 79 Creating a public space in Guangzhou ............................................................................................. 93 Chapter Three Between Sun and Chen (1922) ......................................................................................... 99 June 16th 1922: the breakup between Sun Yat-sen and Chen Jiongming ....................................... 100 A tough decision: the communists between Sun and Chen ............................................................ 103 The mystery of “following Chen Jiongming and opposing Sun Yat-sen” ...................................... 111 Behind the mystery: intellectual vs. revolutionary ......................................................................... 119 Chapter Four Revolutionary or Politician? (1923-1928)........................................................................ 131 Chen and Tan during the Nationalist Revolution ........................................................................... 132 Revolutionary vs. politician: a dilemma in Guangdong ................................................................. 137 Revolutionary vs. politician: a dilemma again in Wuhan ............................................................... 148 Finding a way out: establishing a revolutionary party ................................................................... 161 Revolution vs. governance: can it be transcended? ........................................................................ 169 Chapter Five Chen Gongbo and the Left-wing KMT (1923-1928) ........................................................ 176 Chen Gongbo and the “new history” .............................................................................................. 177 Chen Gongbo and British anti-imperialism .................................................................................... 190 Chen and the left-wing KMT: Chinese fascists? ............................................................................ 202 Conclusion ..................................................................................................................................... 209 Epilogue ................................................................................................................................................. 211 Abbreviations ......................................................................................................................................... 216 Bibliography ........................................................................................................................................... 217 3 Acknowledgement My greatest debt is to Dr. Oleg Benesch, who is the best supervisor I can ever imagine and who has always given me warm encouragement and enlightening advice. This study would not be possible without his strong support. I also thank Dr. Jonathan Howlett and Dr. David Clayton, who have provided numerous precious suggestions to my framing and writing of the thesis in the past three and a half years. I extend my thanks to Dr. Ya-pei Kuo for her kind concern and precious suggestions to my study. Prof. Miles Taylor, Prof. Ye Weili, Prof. Elizabeth J. Perry, Prof. Michael Schoenhals, and Prof. Kristin Stapleton offered me thought-provoking advice. Dr. Li Zhiyu kindly shared with me some valuable materials on Chen Gongbo and left-wing Kuomintang. I am also thankful to the help and encouragement from Prof. Wang Qisheng, Prof. Tang Chi-hua, Prof. Huang Ko-wu, and Prof. Pan Kuang-che, and Prof. Sha Dongxun. The writing of my thesis benefits greatly from various archives and libraries, and I am very grateful to the aid of the staff in the following institutions: the Harvard-Yenching Library (Cambridge, US), the National Archives (Kew, UK), the Brotherton Library of Leeds University (Leeds, UK), the SOAS Library (London, UK), the British Library of Political and Economic Science in LSE (London, UK), the Asia Library of Lund University (Lund, Sweden), the libraries of Hong Kong University (HK, PRC), the libraries of the Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK, PRC), the Sun Yat-sen Library of Guangdong Province (Guangzhou, PRC), the libraries of Sun Yat-sen University (Guangzhou, PRC), the library of the CASS Institute of Modern History (Beijing, PRC), the National Library (Beijing, PRC), and the Peking University Library (Beijing, PRC). Thanks to the help of Lui Ming-ha, Ni Junming, Zheng Limin, Liao Zhiming, and Chen Manchai, I am able to collect a large number of local historical documents in Guangdong. I would like to thank all the scholarships and grants which have kindly supported this study and my academic visits in the US, Europe, and China: the Santander International Connections Award, the Universities’ China Committee in London Grants, the Global 4 Scholarship Programme for Research Excellence provided by the Worldwide Universities Network and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the Lund-York PhD Student Desk Exchange, the YGRS Conference Fund provided by York Graduate Research School, the MacCormack Travel Fund, and the James Jarvis Memorial Fund. Finally, I am very grateful